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Alexander R.Gordon 




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Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEP03m 



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THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 
ALEXANDER R. GORDON, D D. 



THE ENCHANTED 
GARDEN 

STORIES FROM GENESIS 
RETOLD FOR YOUNG FOLK 

BY 

ALEXANDER R. GORDON, D.D. 

AUTHOR OF "THE POETS OF THE OLD TESTA- 
MENT," "THE PROPHETS OF THE OLD 
TESTAMENT," ETC. 



NEW XBr YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






COPYRIGHT, 1920, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



OCT -8 1S20 






PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



©CU576774 



TO 
MARGARET and JANETTE 



PREFACE 

There is no book in the Bible more fascinating 
than Genesis. It charms us in our childhood, and 
it holds its spell to the end. For it is not only 
full of the enchanted poetry of the East; it is a 
shining mirror of life in every age and under every 
sky. As we follow these ancient tales, we seem to 
be reading the story of our own souls. 

This book has been written for young folk be- 
ginning to look out on the wonder of life. But I 
trust it will appeal also to older readers who still 
retain the dew of their youth, especially to parents 
and teachers who seek to win their children to the 
love of beauty and goodness. May this re- telling 
of Genesis help them in their heavenly task! 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Trees in the Garden 13 

The Serpent and the Cherubim 16 

The Croucher at the Door 20 

Walking with God 24 

The Sweet Scent 28 

Building a Tower 31 

A Good Sportsman 33 

A Brave Adventure 37 

Half-Truths 41 

A Fatal Choice 44 

The King of Peace . , 48 

The Flaming Torch 51 

The God That Sees 54 

A Good Man's Prayer 58 

The Smoking Furnace 62 

The Well in the Wilderness 65 

Swearing an Oath 68 

The Ram in the Thicket 70 

A Lonely Grave 73 

An Evening Romance 77 

Old Wells Opened Again 82 

The Sale of a Birthright 84 

The Stolen Blessing 87 

A Hillside Dream 91 

ix 



x CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Stepping Out 95 

Love at First Sight 98 

Changed Looks 100 

Meeting with Angels 104 

Wrestling with God 108 

Back to Bethel 112 

The Gentleman's Coat .116 

A Boy's Dreams ,«.... 119 

The Black Hole m . . 122 

A Faithful Servant , 126 

The Just Man in Jail , . ■ 130 

Dreams in the Dungeon 134 

From Prison to Palace ••«...„... 137 

The Money in the Sacks 141 

In Bond for a Brother 145 

A Royal Forgiveness 152 

A United Home 154 

A Happy Ending 157 



THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 



THE ENCHANTED 
GARDEN 

i 

THE TREES IN THE GARDEN 

WE all love a garden. Some of us have gar- 
dens of our own, and we know the joy of 
tending them. In the bright spring months we 
sow the tiny seeds ; we watch them break through 
the ground, and unfold their stems and leaves to 
the sunshine; we water the young plants, and 
keep them clear of weeds, until the whole garden 
is a mass of glowing colour. Even those who live 
in the city have some share of this joy. We have 
our public parks and playgrounds. Perhaps also 
we have a patch of soil where we grow a few 
favourite flowers. And when the hot summer 
comes, we leave our dusty streets behind us, and 
wander through garden and orchard, weaving^ 
sweet bouquets of daisy and lily and rose, pluck- 
ing the ripe berries from the bush, or gathering 
our baskets full of golden orange and red-cheeked 
apple. And we feel that life in a garden is life 
indeed. 

It makes us glad to know that God also loves 
13 



14 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

a garden. When He created this world, He 
planted a garden in Eden, "the land of Delight,' ' 
on the rich plain of Mesopotamia. This garden 
He laid out with every kind of tree that is pleas- 
ant to the eyes and good for food, trees on whose 
branches the birds sang with joy, and round 
whose stems the beasts of the field roamed in 
blissful freedom. The grassy slopes of the gar- 
den He decked with flowers, and He brought a 
river from Eden to water it. Here He placed the 
man and the woman whom He had formed, "to 
dress it and to keep it." And He used to come 
down in the cool of the evening, to enjoy with 
them the beauty of the garden, and to walk and 
talk with them, as a father talks with his children. 

This is no mere tale of far-off days. It is a 
true parable of life. God's garden is the soul, 
in which He has sown the seeds of all lovely flow- 
ers and trees. And He has made us His garden- 
ers, that we may watch over the seeds, and help 
them to blossom and bear fruit. The flowers of 
the soul are just those gracious habits which St. 
Paul has written about: "love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, 
temperance." And the trees are the manlier vir- 
tues which boys admire so greatly: virtues like 
courage, strength, endurance, truthfulness, loyalty 
to comrades, willingness to help others in time of 
need. If the garden of our soul be filled with 
such flowers and trees, God will delight to come 
down and walk in it, to call us His friends, and 
to talk with us as freely as He did with Adam 
and Eve. 

It was God's wish that His children should pass 



THE TREES IN THE GARDEN 15 

all their days in the innocent enjoyment of Eden. 
So He placed in the midst of the garden "the 
tree of life," that they might eat of the fruit of 
it, and live for ever. But if they were to be worthy 
of immortal life, they must be tried and proved. 
So beside the tree of life He placed "the tree of 
the knowledge of good and evil," warning them 
not to eat of it, for on the day they ate they 
would surely die. 

I think we all know the meaning of this tree. 
In the garden of the soul there are the good 
fruits of love and peace, gentleness, courage, 
strength and truthfulness ;, but there are also the 
evil fruits of hatred, malice and strife, ill-temper, 
cowardice and falsehood. And as the good fruits 
are wholesome for the soul, the evil fruits are 
poisons which kill the soul. Thus God bids us 
"abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is 
good. ' ' And we cannot make our choice too early 
in life. For the voice of heavenly Wisdom says, 
"I love them that love me;, and those that seek 
me early shall find me." 



\' 



% 



n 

THE SERPENT AND THE CHERUBIM 

IN the wonderland of Eden man lived in friend- 
ship with the beasts as well as God. Only the 
serpent hated him, and planned to do him harm. 
So, finding Eve one day alone near the forbidden 
tree, he began to talk with her. i ' Hath God really 
said, Ye shall not eat of any of the trees of the 
garden V 9 In simple innocence Eve answered, 
"Of every tree of the garden we may freely eat, 
save of the tree which stands in the midst of the 
garden, of which God hath said, Ye shall not eat 
of it, nor even touch it, lest ye die." But the ser- 
pent was not to be put off by innocent words. 
Fastening his eye on the woman, he hinted that 
God did not mean what He said. God was jealous 
of His children, and only wished to keep them 
ignorant of life. "Ye shall certainly not die. The 
truth is, God knoweth that on the day ye eat of 
the fruit of the tree your eyes will be opened, 
and ye shall become as God Himself, knowing both 
good and evil." And poor Eve was caught by his 
flattering speech. She looked at the tree, and saw 
that its fruit was pleasant to the eye and sweet 
to the taste; she thought also how delightful it 
must be to know good and evil. So she plucked 
an apple from the tree and ate it; then she went 
to her husband, gave him some of the fruit, and 

16 



THE SERPENT AND THE CHERUBIM 17 

he also ate. Thus our first parents disobeyed the 
word of the Lord. 

We can all guess what the serpent was. 
Temptation! Sleek and subtle as a serpent, it 
winds its way into the heart, and tries to catch 
us by honeyed words. It tell us how sweet the 
forbidden fruit is, how fine a thing it is to know 
good and evil, how mean God is to prevent our 
enjoyment. And far too readily we yield to the 
spell. We eat of the tree of knowledge, find the 
taste of it pleasant, and soon begin to share the 
fruit with our companions. 

Ay, but how cruel is the serpent! Those glit- 
tering eyes are shot with fiery hatred against us. 
That tongue which speaks so smoothly has a sting 
whose poison is death. And quickly the poison 
begins to work. Adam and Eve had no sooner 
tasted the fruit of the tree than they were 
ashamed and afraid. When they heard the sound 
of God's footsteps in the garden, they ran to hide 
themselves among the trees. And when God ques- 
tioned them about their guilt, they threw the 
blame on one another. Adam said, * ' The woman 
whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me 
of the tree, and I did eat, ' ' And Eve said, ' * The 
serpent tempted me, and I did eat." 

How true it all is ! The moment we do wrong, 
we become uneasy and alarmed. We can no 
longer look our parents and friends in the face. 
We try to keep away from God. We are afraid 
even to think of Him. And we blame others for 
our faults. We say our companions led us astray, 
or the tempter caught us before we knew, or God 
Himself threw the stumbling-block in our path! 



18 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

But it is useless to hide our sins from God. 
His eyes can search the very thoughts of our 
heart. And He is not mocked, "for whatsoever 
a man soweth, that shall he also reap." God did 
not, indeed, slay Adam and his wife. He gave 
them many more years to enjoy the sunshine. 
And to shelter them from the rough blasts of the 
world, He made them coats of skin to cover them. 
But He drove them out of the garden, to toil with 
the sweat of their brow on the hard thorny soil of 
the desert. And at the entrance to the garden He 
placed two winged cherubim, with a flaming sword 
that turned in every direction, to guard the way 
to the tree of life. 

I think we can guess what this also means. The 
cherubim are the angels who protect God's pres- 
ence against evil. And the flaming sword is con- 
science. Once we have sinned, this sword of con- 
science prevents us from ever returning to the 
garden of innocence. But if there be no way back 
to innocence, there is a way forward to victory. 
We read that, when God sent Adam and Eve out 
of Eden, He held out to them the hope that their 
children would crush the head of the serpent, 
though the serpent would still strike at their heels. 
That is, they would conquer sin, though the vic- 
tory would be gained through much suffering and 
sorrow. And in this fight with sin, He would 
Himself help them to conquer. 

We have a far brighter hope than they had. 
Jesus Christ has come to our world. He, too, was 
tempted, "in all points like as we are," but with- 
out sin. The suggestions of the serpent He flung 
one after another behind Him; and on the Cross 



THE SERPENT AND THE CHERUBIM 19 

He trampled him under His feet, though the ser- 
pent stung Him to the heart. By His death He 
brought us deliverance from sin. Thus He opens 
the way once more to the tree of life, not that 
which stood in the Eden that was lost, but that 
which stands for ever in the Eden above the skies. 
"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the 
tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise 
of God." 



m 

THE CEOUCHER AT THE DOOR 

THE lot of Adam and his wife outside of Eden 
was a toilsome one. But love lightened the 
load. And soon children came to add sunshine to 
their love. Eve 's eldest son she called Cain, which 
means Gotten, for she said, "I have gotten a boy 
from the Lord." The second she called Abel, 
which means Shepherd, for she hoped he would 
help his father with the sheep. As they grew up, 
Cain became a tiller of the ground, while Abel 
kept the flocks. How Adam must have rejoiced 
to see his two sons thus shouldering their end of 
the burden ! But he longed still more to see them 
grow together in the knowledge and love of the 
Lord. Thus often he would tell them of the happy 
time when he and their mother had walked so 
intimately with God in the garden. And often he 
would gather them round the family altar when 
he offered his sacrifices of thanksgiving to God 
for His goodness to all of them in the fields and 
in the home. Ere long Cain and Abel began to 
offer sacrifices for themselves. But the spirit in 
which they offered them was different. Abel 
offered his sacrifice with a frank, glad heart, be- 
cause he loved God, and was grateful for His 
mercies. But Cain offered his with a grudge, as 
though it were a tax God forced him to pay 

20 



THE CROUCHER AT THE DOOR *1 

against his will. And as God loves only the cheer- 
ful giver, He had respect unto Abel and his offer- 
ing, while unto Cain and his offering He had no 
respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his face 
fell. His heart was bitter against the brother 
whom God had favoured. He blamed him for 
the respect of persons God had shown. And as 
he brooded over it, the fire burned hot and fierce, 
and he moved about the camp with dark and sullen 
looks, consumed by a passion of hatred towards 
the innocent. 

Cain doubtless imagined he was doing no wrong 
in harbouring such feelings against his brother. 
He may even have persuaded himself that he was 
in the right. But God unveiled the sin that lurked 
beneath his anger. "Why art thou wroth? And 
why is thy face fallen? If thou doest well, 
shouldest thou not hold it up, like a man of hon- 
our? But if thou doest not well, sin croucheth at 
the door; and unto thee is its desire, while thou 
shouldest rule over it." 

We have here a wonderfully vivid picture of 
temptation and its stealthy approach. In the gar- 
den of Eden it had appeared as a serpent, the 
subtlest and most venomous of reptiles. Now it 
takes the shape of a tiger, beautiful in outward 
appearance, lithe and graceful in all its move- 
ments, but crafty and cruel as it is beautiful, not 
stalking like the lion in lordly majesty, but lying 
in ambush, or gliding softly through the jungle, 
then crouching at the house door, ready to' leap 
upon its unwary victim, and tear him in savage* 
fury. 

How true this picture also is! Like Cain, w© 



22 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

often imagine we can indulge in bitter feelings, 
and yet be guilty of no sin. But once we allow 
our hearts to be haunted by evil passions, sin 
crouches at the door, waiting for a chance to 
spring in and overpower us. Sin lay at the door 
of Cain's heart; and as soon as the door was 
opened, when he and Abel were alone in the field, 
the sin rose and mastered him, and he slew his 
brother. With us, too, a sinful thought is the first 
step to a sinful deed. While the spell of evil is 
still upon us, the temptation comes, and we fall 
almost before we realise our danger. Like a wild 
beast sin holds us in its clutches, and we are lost. 
But there is another side to the picture. "Unto 
thee is its desire, while thou shouldest rule over 
it." As Browning says, 

"Why comes temptation but for man to meet 
And master and make crouch beneath his foot, 
And so be pedestalled in triumph ?" 

Man has little strength to cope with a wild beast 
suddenly springing from its lair. But in the open 
field he is master of the strongest. The very look 
of his eye is enough to make the king of the forest 
quail before him. And with his weapons he can; 
bring down the fiercest of his foes. So also, hope- 
less as it seems for us to struggle against the sin 
that crouches at the door, we are more than a 
match for the temptations that meet us on the 
highways of duty and honour. There are those 
that shrink before a fearless look. Stand up to 
your temptations, and often they will leave you 
without a blow. And though sometimes you must 
fight, as Christian fought with Apollyon, cour- 



THE CROUCHER AT THE DOOR 23 

age and faith will make you "more than con- 
querors. ' ' 

But even if we have allowed our temptations to 
icrouch at the door, we can yet find strength to 
overcome. He who warned Cain of the presence 
of the tempter would have helped him to the mas- 
tery, had he only given heed to the warning. And 
He is still ready to help all who seek His help. 
Sin may crouch at the door. But Jesus stands at 
the door and knocks. And if any man hear His 
voice and open the door, He will come in and abide 
with Him. Before the glance of His pure eye the 
sin that desires to bring us down will flee away 
abashed. Or if it still dare to attack us, in Jesus' 
strength we shall make it crouch beneath our foot, 
"and so be pedestalled in triumph." For 
temptation has a real place in God's great plan 
of life. It is the athletics of Christian character. 
Without temptation we should be poor, weak 
creatures, unable to play our part with vigour 
and success. But through facing and mastering 
our temptations, we become good soldiers of 
Jesus Christ. And on the day of the Grand Re- 
view we shall receive the crown which He has 
promised to all who have fought and won. 

"To him that o'ercometh God giveth a crown; 
Through faith we shall conquer, though often cast 

down; 
He who is our Saviour our strength will renew; 
Look ever to Jesus — He will carry you through." 



IV 
WALKING WITH GOD 

IN 1 the East one who slays his fellow is banished 
to the wilderness, and there left to the ven- 
geance of the dead man 's family and friends. His 
only hope of safety is to flee to another tribe, to 
receive their mark, and to pass nnder their pro- 
tection. When Cain became a fugitive and wan- 
derer in the earth, he had no one to turn to. But 
God took pity upon him, and set His mark on his 
forehead, that no one finding him should slay him. 
Thus He seasoned justice with mercy. 

Once launched out for themselves, the descend- 
ants of Cain made rapid progress in the arts of 
life. Some of them began to rear cattle, others 
worked in brass and iron, while the inventive 
genius of Jubal devised the first simple instru- 
ments of music. But with all these gifts they for- 
got the Giver. Thus their very progress proved 
a way of sin. The brass and iron they forged 
into spears and swords to war with one another. 
And their musical talents they employed to cele- 
brate their deeds of violence. The earliest song 
in the Bible is that in which Lamech boasts of the 
blood he has shed. 

"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; 

Ye wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech : 
24 



WALKING WITH GOD 25 

A man have I slain for wounding me, 

And a boy for bruising me : 
If Cain be avenged seven times, 

Then Lamech seventy and seven." 

Amid so much darkness one man's character 
shines out like a star. It is summed up in four 
words ; but the whole essence of life is contained 
in them. " Enoch walked with God." As we read 
the simple statement, we are carried back in imag- 
ination to the sinless days when Adam walked 
with God in Eden. Not that God appeared to 
either Adam or Enoch in outward form. To walk 
with God means just to be the friend of God, to 
love Him, to worship Him "in spirit and in 
truth,' ' to try to please Him in all things. Enoch's 
life was one unbroken round of such happy fel- 
lowship with God. In the morning he would wake 
up glad at heart for the new day His goodness had 
given him. On his way to work he would keep 
his eyes open to the wondrous beauty of heaven 
and earth. The active hours he would fill up 
with honest toil, putting his very best into his 
work for God's sake. He would have a smile and 
a kindly greeting for all he met. He would be the 
constant friend of the poor and needy. At home 
he would seek to train his children in the fear of 
the Lord. But there would be nothing morose in 
his training. He knew that the fear of the Lord 
is joy and love ; therefore he would throw himself 
with eager interest into all their childish activi- 
ties, taking a real delight, both in their work and 
in their play. Often in the evening he would wan- 
der out alone under the starry skies, to commit 



86 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

them to the care of Him who had created all these 
things. TThen night came, he would reverently, 
kneel with them in prayer, and together the/j 
would sleep the sleep of the righteous. So, what- 1 
ever he did, he would carry on his face the reflec- 
tion of the Friend with whom he walked, and help 
to shed the light of heaven on earth. 

It may seem' hard for little ones to walk with 
God in this way. Yet Jesus said, "Of such is the 
Kingdom of heaven." And if we remember that 
He is the living image of God, we shall no longer 
think it so hard. He has always been the friend 
of children. When He lived here, the boys and 
girls of Palestine crowded about Him, clambered 
on His knees, clung to His arm, and nestled in 
His bosom. And though we cannot see and touch 
Him as they did, we can read the story of His 
life, think of Him and pray to Him, follow Him 
as our great Leader, and try to be more like Him 
in word and deed. This is walking with God. And 
we can practise it in everything we do, in our 
games as well as our prayers. For God means us 
to walk with Him, not as grown-up men and 
women, but as boys and girls, full of the bright- 
ness and gaiety of youth. The happier we are, 
the more will He rejoice in our friendship. For 
sunshine of heart and mind is the soul of friend- 
ship, with God as well as with men. 

Enoch walked many years with God. Then sud- 
denly, one bright morning, he vanished from the 
sight of men. "He was not; for God took him." 
He had lived so near to heaven that God simply 
opened the door and led him in. 

God may still call His friends home to Him as 



WALKING WITH GOD «1 : 

quietly as that. One of Lord Tennyson's most 
touching poems, In The Children's Hospital, tells 
of Emmie, the girl with "the prettiest prattle" 
and "the gratefullest heart," who feels that her 
end is near, and asks "wise little Annie," in the 
cot beside her, what she should do. Annie bids 
her "cry to the dear Lord Jesus," who has said, 
"Little children should come to me." But how 
is He to know her, with so many beds in the ward? 

"That was a puzzle for Annie. Again she consider 'd 
and said: j 

* Emmie, yon pnt ont your arms, and you leave 'em 
ontside on the bed — 

The Lord has so much to see to ! but, Emmie, you tell it 
him plain, 

It's the little girl with her arms lying out on the coun- 
terpane.' " 

In the morning doctor and nurse visit the ward, 
and see 

"Her dear, long, lean, little arms lying out on the coun- 
terpane. ' ' 

They believe her asleep again. But, like Enoch, 
she is not ; for God has taken her. 

"The Lord of the children had heard her, and Emmie 
had past away." 



THE SWEET SCENT 

THE influence of Enoch's faith, waned all too 
quickly, and the world grew worse and worse. 
The spirit of God wrestled with men, but they 
would not repent. At last He made up His mind 
to destroy them "by a great flood. Only Noah 
found favour in His eyes. He was a good man, 
who walked with God as faithfully as Enoch had 
done. At God's command he built him an ark 
of cypress wood, into which he brought his wife 
and children, with a few animals of every kind. 
"When they had entered the ark, the flood de- 
scended upon the earth. For forty days and nights 
it rained in pitiless torrents. The waters rose 
till they covered the highest mountains, and every 
living creature died, except those in the ark. Then 
the rain ceased, and the waters began to sink. In 
course of time Noah opened the window of the 
ark, and sent out a raven, to see whether the 
earth was dry. The raven had no love for the 
ark, and remained on the surface of the waters, 
flying to and fro till the land appeared. Then 
Noah sent out a dove, but she "found no rest 
for the sole of her foot," and soon returned to the 
ark. Seven days later he sent out the dove again, 
and she returned in the evening, with a freshly 
plucked olive leaf in her mouth. By this sign 

28 



THE SWEET SCENT S9 

Noah knew that the trees had appeared. So he 
waited seven other days, and sent out the dove 
again. This time she returned no more to him, 
and he knew that the earth was dry. Then he 
opened the door, and went out, he and all that 
were with him in the ark. And he built an altar, 
and offered sacrifices of every clean beast and 
bird. And God "smelled the sweet scent' ' of the 
sacrifice, and vowed never again to curse the 
ground for man 's sake. And in token of the vow 
He caused a rainbow to appear in the sky, as a 
pledge that, " while the earth remaineth, seed- 
time and harvest, and cold and heat, and sum- 
mer and winter, and day and night, shall not 
fail." 

"What made the sacrifice smell so sweetly to 
God was the gratitude that lay behind it. Noah's 
whole soul bubbled over with praise ; and his sac- 
rifice was the utterance of that praise. For the 
same reason Jesus delighted in the sweet scent 
of Mary's ointment. To Him it was the outpour- 
ing of a heart which loved much because it had 
been forgiven much; and He prophesied that the 
memory of her gracious deed would remain fresh 
and fragrant wherever the Gospel was preached. 
Over every good man 's life hangs a scent like that 
which lingers round Mary's name. When Profes- 
sor Drummond visited Lake Shirwa, in the depths 
of Tropical Africa, he met an old female chief, 
who told him that long ago a white man had come 
to her village, spoken kindly to her, and given 
her a present of cloth. It was David Livingstone. 
And Drummond adds, "Wherever Livingstone's 
footsteps are crossed in Africa, the fragrance of 



SO THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

his memory seems to remain.' ' Of that later 
African heroine, Mary Slessor, the White Queen 
of Okoyong, her biographer says she was like "a 
sweetbriar bush, hidden away in a lonely and 
lowly spot," whose fragrance scented the air on 
every side. So Florence Nightingale carried 
fragrance through the hospital wards of Scutari, 
and many another angel of mercy into the hearts 
of our soldiers in the last Great War. But we 
need not wait till we are older to become what 
St. Paul calls "savours of Christ" in the world. 
You remember Browning's Pippa, the little mill- 
girl of Asolo, who passed through the city streets 
singing her sweet songs of God in His heaven. 
As she sang, the whole atmosphere seemed to be 
purified. Men living in sin were brought to a 
better mind; the dishonest returned to ways of 
honesty ; love was awakened in the hearts of those 
who scoffed at love; the artist was inspired to 
produce better work ; and the patriot was imbued 
with a purer passion for his country. If we can- 
not sing like Pippa, we can at least have a bunch 
of flowers for the sick, a cup of cold water for 
the thirsty, a kind word for the friendless, a 
bright smile for everyone. In these ways we, too, 
can help to sweeten life, to fill it with the scent of 
Paradise. 

"Little deeds of kindness, 

Little words of love, 
Make our earth an Eden, 

Like the heaven above.' ' 



VI 
BUILDING A TOWER 

AFTER the flood men began to multiply once 
more on the earth. For many years they 
remained one family, speaking one language. As 
they journeyed in the valley of the Euphrates, 
they came to the plain of Babylon, where they 
pitched their tents. Soon they determined to build 
a city, with a tower reaching to heaven, that they 
should never be separated, and might make them- 
selves also a great name. So they dug up clay, 
baked it into bricks, used bitumen for mortar, and 
began to build. But in their plan for the build- 
ing they took no account of God. They imagined 
they could work even better without Him, for 
there would then be no hindrance to their ambi- 
tion. But He came down to see what they did; 
and when he discovered how godless were their 
aims, He threw confusion into their language, that 
they could no longer understand each other's 
speech. So the building stopped, and they were 
"scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth." 
Like the builders of Babylon, we, too, are rais- 
ing towers to the sky. These towers are just our 
achievements, that which we make of our lives. 
The bricks are the works we do. The strength 
and beauty of the towers will thus depend on the 
quality of our works. If they be shoddy, rough 

31 



32 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

and loose, the towers will rise up coarse and 
crooked ; if they be true and good, the towers will 
mount in stately grace, " four-square to all the 
winds that blow." There need be no limit to the 
height of our towers. If we have any real ambi- 
tion, indeed, we shall raise them as near to heaven 
as we can, and so win ourselves a name among our 
fellows. But for that we need a sure foundation. 
Many of us build without a foundation; and our 
towers are but castles in the air. Others build on 
the foundation of selfishness. Like the man de- 
scribed in Tennyson's Palace of Art, they make 
for themselves "a lordly pleasure-house/ ' where 
their soul may "live alone unto herself in her 
high palace there ; ' ' but living only for themselves, 
they lose their touch with other men, and fall 
"like Herod, when the shout was in his ears." 
Too many great Emperors, Alexander and Caesar, 
Napoleon and William the Second, have built on 
this foundation. They tried to conquer the world; 
but God confounded their plans, and they ended 
their days in exile or by the sword. In one way 
or other selfishness always leads to ruin. The 
only sure foundation is Jesus Christ and His rule 
of life. "Do unto others as ye would that they 
should do unto you." On this foundation men 
like "Washington and Lincoln, Gladstone and Gen- 
eral Gordon built. They had their ambitions ; but 
their chief ambition was to do good, to fight for 
country and honour, to free the slaves, to secure 
justice for all men. So their towers reached to 
heaven, while their names enjoy immortal renown. 
We may not have gifts as great as theirs ; but if 
we do our best with the gifts we have, we, too, 



BUILDING A TOWER 33 

shall build towers that will last, and onr names 
will be held in grateful remembrance. 

"For me — to have made one soul 

The better for my birth ; 
To have added but one flower 
To the garden of the earth; 

To have struck one blow for truth. 

In the daily fight with lies ; 
To have done one deed of right 

In the face of calumnies; 

To have sown in the souls of men 

One thought that will not die ; 
To have been a link in the chain of life 

Shall be immortality. ,, 

B. Hatch. 



VII 
A GOOD SPOETSMAN 

AMONG the people scattered from Babylon 
were those who founded the Empire of As- 
syria, with its capital at Nineveh. They were 
great conquerors ; they were also great sportsmen. 
On their wonderful clay tablets we can still see 
pictures of their fights with lions and other wild 
beasts. But the Assyrians were cruel, both in 
war and in sport. The prophet Nahum calls Nine- 
veh a city of blood. One man, however, was of a 
different stamp. Nimrod was a great sportsman; 
but he was a good sportsman. He was "a mighty 
hunter before the Lord. ' ' 

The love of sport is one of our earliest instincts. 
The little child tosses its legs and arms about in 
pure playfulness. Boys and girls have their 
games of baseball and cricket, racing, skipping, 
hide-and-seek, clubs and housekeeping. Older 
folk enjoy their quieter recreations of golf and 
bowls, fishing and shooting. God has planted this 
love of sport in our souls, and He wishes us to 
play heartily and well. One day Jesus was watch- 
ing the children of Jerusalem at their games and 
he saw some of them sulky and cross. Their com- 
panions proposed a wedding, and began to pipe 
and dance; but they would not play. Then they 
tried a funeral, and began to weep and wail ; still 

34 



A GOOD SPORTSMAN 35 

they would not play. And Jesus was greatly dis- 
pleased. He liked to see children happy at their 
games. He liked also to see them play fair, to 
see them play like Nimrod " before the Lord." 
Many of us spoil the game, not only by our 
peevish temper, but by selfishness, cruelty, or 
foul play. We try to win by any means we can ; 
and if we are beaten, we are vexed and sour. The 
good sportsman will always "play the game." 
He wishes not so much to gain glory for himself, 
as to help his team to win. As the master says 
in that splendid old book, Tom Brown's School 
Days, "he doesn't play that he may win, but that 
his side may." So he obeys his captain's orders, 
keeps in touch with his fellows, and passes to the 
next-hand man, if he has a better chance of scor- 
ing. He does his best to win ; but he would rather 
lose than cheat. And if he does lose, he takes it 
manfully. He shakes hands, and leaves the field 
in perfect temper. 

Sport is not merely an enjoyment for the 
moment : it is a training for the harder contests of 
life. You have all heard of Wellington's remark 
that "Waterloo was really won on the playing 
fields of Eton." With equal truth we may say 
that the battles in France and Flanders, Palestine 
and Mesopotamia, were won on the school-grounds 
of Europe and America. For it was there that 
our soldiers developed that strength and courage, 
discipline, devotion to duty, cheerfulness and good 
humour, which carried them through to victory. 
But sport is as real a training for ordinary work. 
The good sportsman will "play the game" at 
school and college, in business, on the farm and 



$6 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

ranch, or wherever he is. He will try to excel; 
hut he will never stoop to mean and selfish meth- 
ods. His hands will be clean, his heart high and 
brave, his spirit generous. He will do his best 
to work with others, for he knows that the purest 
success is that which comes through the working 
together of each for all. And whether he reaches 
his full ambition or not, he will enjoy the proud 
sense that he has "done his bit" before the Lord. 

"There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night — 

Ten to make and the match to win — 
A bumping pitch and a blinding light, 

An hour to play and the last man in. 
And it 's not for the sake of a ribboned coat, 

Or the selfish hope of a season 's fame, 
But his Captain's hand on his shoulder smote — 

' Play up ! play up ! and play the game 1 ' 

The sand of the desert is sodden red — 

Red with the wreck of a square that broke; — 
The gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead, 

And the regiment blind with dust and smoke. 
The river of death has brimmed his banks, 

And England's far, and Honour a name; 
But the voice of a school-boy rallies the ranks — 

' Play up ! play up ! and play the game ! ' 

This is the word that year by year, 

"While in her place the School is set, 
Every one of her sons must hear, 

And none that hears it dare forget. 
This they all with a joyful mind 

Bear through life like a torch in flame; 
And falling fling to the host behind — 

'Play up ! play up ! and play the game ! ' " 

H. Nbwboi/p. 



vni 

A BKAVE ADVENTURE 

IN those days of restless movement an Eastern 
chief called Terah settled at Ur of the Chal- 
dees, a famous old city on the delta of the Tigris 
and Euphrates. The land round Ur was of gor- 
geous beauty. Great palm-trees dotted the plain. 
Emit grew in rank luxuriance. Ur itself was a 
birthplace of learning and art. Its people, how- 
ever, were idolators. They had long since for- 
gotten the true G-od, and worshipped the sun, 
moon and stars. But God did not wish His chil- 
dren to remain in darkness, so He revealed Him- 
self to Abram, the son of Terah. 

A beautiful Jewish legend tells how the lad went 
out one morning and saw the sun rise in its glory. 
He said to himself, "Surely this is the Lord of 
the world ; Him will I worship. ' ' But the evening 
came, and lo ! the sun set, and the moon appeared 
with its galaxy of silver stars. Then he said to 
himself, "This now is the Lord of the world, and 
the stars are His servants; to Him will I kneel." 
But morning came once more ; the moon and stars 
sank, and the sun rose anew in its glory. So he 
said to himself, ' ' Now I know that neither the sun 
nor the moon is the Lord of the world; but He 
who controls both of them as His servants is the 
Creator and Ruler of all." 

37 



38 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

However this may be, Abram came to know God 
so intimately that he was called "the friend of 
God." And God chose him to be the father of 
the faithful, through whom all the families of the 
earth should be blessed. But he could not be the 
father of the faithful in that land of idolatry. 
So God bade him leave his country, his kindred, 
and his father's home, to go unto a land that 
He would show him. And Abram rose up, and 
went forth, "not knowing whither he went." 

It is a fine proof of Abram 's strength of char- 
acter that Terah his father joined him in his 
brave adventure, along with Sarai his wife and 
Lot his brother's son. Together they made their 
way along the Euphrates, until they reached 
Haran, the great market-town of Syria. There 
Terah died; but Abram and Lot pushed ever on- 
ward, past the luscious orchards of Damascus, 
and over the Jordan, till they set foot in Palestine. 
This was the land God meant to give them. So 
Abram built an altar, and claimed it in the name 
of the Lord. But they found no city to dwell in, 
for "the Canaanite was then in the land." So 
they passed through Jezreel to the charming val- 
ley of Shechem, where Jesus sat by Jacob's well, 
and on to Luz or Bethel, where Jacob saw his 
vision of angels. And wherever they went, Abram 
set up an altar, and called upon the name of the 
Lord. "For he looked for a city which hath foun- 
dations, whose builder and maker is God." 

Three hundred years ago another band of pil- 
grims left their country, their kindred, and their 
fathers' home. They, too, were friends of God. 
But they found no "freedom to worship God" in 



A BRAVE ADVENTURE 39 

England. So they set sail on the Mayflower, "to 
go unto a land that He would show them." The 
parting from their friends was sorrowful. The 
voyage was long and stormy. The land they first 
sighted was bleak and inhospitable. But they car- 
ried with them the faith that had supported them 
in so many trials. And no sooner did they reach 
the harbour than, like Abram, they called upon 
the name of the Lord. As one of their number 
tells us, "They fell on their knees and blessed 
the God of heaven, who had brought them over 
the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them 
from all its perils and miseries." Thus they 
claimed America for God. And they and their 
children were blessed abundantly, and became a 
blessing to all the families of the earth. 

Our own lives are just such ventures upon the 
unknown. In our fathers' homes our vessels are 
shaped, and trimmed, and fitted with bow and 
helm, masts and rigging. When all is ready, we 
put out to sea, our sails unfurled, and our flags 
streaming in the breeze. "We do not know what 
skies may look down on us, what calms or storms 
may meet us, what strange lands may beckon us 
to their shores, what other ships may cross our 
path. This only we know, that, if God be the 
steersman, all will be well. The sunshine will 
cheer us, while the mists and storms will make 
us the finer sailors. Wherever God's hand at the 
wheel may direct our course, goodness and mercy 
will follow us like favouring winds. We shall 
carry lights that will help our comrades on the 
deep. And at the end we shall sail with masts 



40 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

erect and colours flying into the haven of Eternal 
Life. 

"We watch a ship sail out to sea 

Upon the ebbing tide, 
And on the heaving ocean wave 

"We see it gently ride ; 
The sails are spread, the helmsman steers 

To some far distant strand, 
And well he knows he leaves behind 

His friends and native land. 

Upon the far horizon-line 

The ship now disappears, 
And yet we know the helmsman has 

No need for anxious fears, 
For other seas, both broad and wide, 

Are stretched before his eyes; 
And he still steers to some fair port 

That in the distance lies. 

And, lo, when dear ones pass away 

And vanish from our sight, 
They, too, will sail o'er level seaa 

Towards God's eternal light; 
The dim horizon-line will be 

To them no sudden change; 
We call it death — it is the Life 

Beyond earth's narrow range. " 

A. C. Fryob. 



IX 

HALF-TKUTHS 

ABEAM had not been long in Palestine when 
his faith was sorely tried. " There was a 
famine in the land." The rains had failed, and 
the crops and grass dried np. Abram's flocks 
grew lean for want of food, while he and his house- 
hold began to suffer the pangs of hunger. Often 
during these dark weeks he must have thought 
regretfully of the rich harvests in TJr. But there 
could be no going back to the land of his fathers. 
So he went down to Egypt, that well-stored gran- 
ary by the Nile. This caused him another trial. 
He had left his altar behind him; and he was 
nervous and depressed. He felt as if God had 
brought him there to die. He may even have 
heard the story, which we can still read in an 
Egyptian book, of a Pharaoh sending armed men 
to carry away a beautiful woman from her hus- 
band. And, as Sarai was "a woman fair to look 
upon/' he was afraid they might slay him to get 
possession of her. So he bade her say she was 
his sister, that no harm might come to him on her 
account. 

This was not exactly a lie. It was what we call 

a half-truth. For Sarai was really the daughter 

of his father, though not the daughter of his 

mother. But half-truths are sometimes more 

41 



42 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

dangerous than downright lies. In Tennyson's 
poem, The Grandmother, the poor old woman re- 
calls with bitter shame a half-truth she had uttered 
seventy years before. And she says : 

"The parson made it his text that week, and he said 

likewise, 
That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of 

lies, 
That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought 

with outright, 
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to 

fight." 

Had Abram told the full truth, Pharaoh would 
have treated him and his wife with all respect. 
As it was, he nearly involved them both in great 
sin. For, when the princes of Egypt spoke to 
him of Sarai 's beauty, he sent for her, and learn- 
ing she was Ab ram's sister, he brought her to 
the palace, intending soon to make her one of his 
queens. Thus the blessing promised to Abram 
would have been turned into a curse. 

Some of us have tried to get out of difficulties 
by shifts and evasions of the truth. But we have 
only found ourselves by these means plunged into 
deeper bogs than before. The one safe rule is 
to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth." There is no character in fiction 
more admired than Jeanie Deans, the heroine of 
The Heart of Midlothian. Sir Walter Scott tells 
us he drew the picture from Helen Walker, the 
daughter of a small farmer in the parish of Iron- 
gray, near Dumfries. Her sister Tibbie had com- 
mitted a terrible crime, and was on trial for her 



HALF-TRUTHS 43 

life. Helen might have gained her acquittal by 
a little prevarication. But she said, "It is impos- 
sible for me to swear to a falsehood; and, what- 
ever may be the consequence, I will give my oath 
according to my conscience." She did so; and 
Tibbie was condemned to death. But Helen would 
not leave her thus to her fate. She got up a peti- 
tion, telling in simple words the peculiar facts of 
the case, walked the long, weary way to London, 
laid it before the Duke of Argyle, and secured 
the pardon she asked for. So she saved her sis- 
ter's life. But she likewise saved her own hon- 
our. And honour is the precious gold of character. 

"This above all: to thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man." 

Shakespeare. 



A FATAL CHOICE 

ABEAM returned from Egypt a sadder but a 
wiser man. He had learned his own weak- 
ness; but he had learned also the secret of 
strength. So he went his way to the altar at 
Bethel, and there anew "called upon the name of 
the Lord." Then he rose from his knees deter- 
mined to live more worthily of his faith. From 
that moment prosperity seemed to pour down on 
him. Both Lot and he became so rich in substance 
that "the land was not able to bear them," and 
quarrels broke out between their herdsmen. 
Abram was saddened by their quarrelling, all the 
more because "the Canaanite and the Perizzite 
dwelled then in the land," and made sport of their 
feuds. So he begged Lot that their strife might 
end, for they were brethren. "Is not the whole 
land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, 
from me ! If thou will take the left hand, then I 
will go to the right ; or if thou wilt take the right 
hand, then I will go to the left. ' ' 

Abram's proposal was as generous as it could 
be. Had Lot been a man of his spirit, he would 
have left the choice with him. Unhappily, he 
was a mean and grasping character, who thought 
only of himself. So "he lifted up his eyes, and 
beheld the circle of land round the Jordan, that 

44 



A FATAL CHOICE 45 

it was well watered everywhere, like the garden 
of the Lord." And he chose that circle of land 
as his own, and moved his tent toward Sodom, 
while Abram was driven to the rough, uncultivated 
highlands in the West. 

Jesus tells us it is possible to lose life by trying 
to save it for selfish ends, and to save life by being 
prepared to lose it for God and honour. So these 
two men found it. Lot attempted to gain the whole 
world, but he lost everything in the attempt. 
"When he moved his tent toward Sodom, he was 
regardless of the fact that "the men of Sodom 
were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceed- 
ingly. " If he thought about it at all, he may have 
imagined he could keep clear of their sinful 
ways. But little by little he and his family were 
drawn into the full current of the stream. At 
first he had pitched his tent outside of Sodom. 
Then he built a house in the city itself. His wife 
made friend with the ladies of Sodom. His daugh- 
ters were betrothed to men of Sodom. And when 
the city was destroyed, as we shall see, Lot was 
saved only " as by fire. ' ' His wife was so attached 
to Sodom that she lingered to look back upon the 
city, and was caught by the sulphur fumes, and 
turned into a pillar of salt. His daughters were 
left homeless. He himself sank into deep dis- 
honour. All this while the blossoms of God's 
favour were falling thick on Abram. No sooner 
had Lot gone than He led him to the top of the 
hill above Bethel, and bade him lift up his eyes, 
and look northward and southward, and eastward 
and westward. And He said to him, ' ' All the land 
which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to 



46 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

thy seed for ever. ' 9 And when Abram moved his 
camp to the plain of Mamre, near Hebron, God 
renewed His promise of blessing. His hidden 
plans He revealed to him. For his sake He spared 
Lot from destruction. He made him a centre of 
good to his neighbours. He blessed him in his 
home as well as his heart. He gave him children 
and grand-children. And in the course of the 
ages He sent His own Son, born of the seed of 
Abraham, to be the Saviour of the world. 

The time comes when every one of us must 
choose where and how he is to live. Too many 
choose as Lot did. They care for nothing but 
worldly success. So they choose a career that 
will bring them riches and pleasure, without re- 
gard to the nature of the work, or the friendships 
they will form. Such a choice is always fatal. A 
man may pile up millions; but if his life is dis- 
honourable, his millions are but dust in the bal- 
ance. And if his companions are evil, he will not 
be long in learning their evil ways. To make the 
most of our lives, we must " seek first the kingdom 
of God and His righteousness." Then we shall 
find that all other good things will be added to us. 
The man who takes conscience as his guiding light 
is sure of success. He may not leap into sudden 
wealth. But he will steadily gain a position of 
honour and influence. He will eniov the respect 
of all good men. Above all, he will find favour 
with God and will live in the sunshine of His love 
for ever. 

"0 happy is the man who hears 
Instruction's warning voice: 



A FATAL CHOICE 47 

And who celestial "Wisdom makes 
His early, only choice. 

For she has treasures greater far 

Than east or west unfold ; 
And her rewards more precious are 

Than all their stores of gold. 

In her right hand she holds to view 

A length of happy days; 
Kiches, with splendid honours joined, 

Are what her left displays. 

She guides the young with innocence, 

In pleasures ' paths to tread ; 
A crown of glory she bestows 

Upon the hoary head. 

According as her labours rise, 

So her rewards increase ; 
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, 

And all her paths are peace." 



XI 
THE KING OF PEACE 

LOT soon learned the folly of his choice. The 
kind of Sodom had picked a quarrel with 
Chedorlaomer, the powerful ruler of Elam, and 
challenged him to fight. Chedorlaomer promptly 
accepted the challenge. With three vassal kings, 
he swept down on Palestine, ravaged the land of 
the Canaanites and Perizzites, joined battle with 
the king of Sodom and his allies in the valley of 
Siddim, near the Dead Sea, defeated them utterly, 
sacked their cities, and carried off prisoners and 
spoil. Among the other prisoners he took Lot, 
who then " dwelt in Sodom/ ' together with all his 
household. 

By good chance one of the prisoners escaped, 
and told Abram what had happened. Had he been 
a selfish man like Lot, he would have received the 
message with indifference or contempt. Lot had 
made his bed with the men of Sodom: now let 
him lie in it as best he could ! Many of us would 
have felt like that. But Abram's chivalrous heart 
rose up in great sympathy for Lot. He was his 
own brother's son; and he could not abandon him 
to his enemies. So he rose up, armed his trained 
men, three hundred and eighteen in number, led 
them by forced marches against the invaders, and 
caught them up at Dan, near the sources of the 



THE KING OF PEACE 49 

Jordan. Then he divided his men into three 
bands, fell on Chedorlaomer's camp by night, 
smote them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, 
on the left side of Damascus. And he brought 
back all the prisoners and spoil, with Lot, his 
family and his goods. 

The king of Sodom was deeply moved by 
Abram's generosity, and he came to meet him on 
his return from the battle. With a true sense of 
fairness, he asked only for the prisoners, well 
content that Abram should keep the rest of the 
spoil. But Abram's generosity surpassed all he 
had expected. He would take nothing for him- 
self, not even a thread or a lace for his sandals, 
lest the king of Sodom might say, "I have made 
Abram rich." Only for his servants did he seek 
an allowance for the food they had eaten on the 
march, and for certain men who had gone with 
him, Aner, and Eshcol, and Mamre, their due 
portion of the spoil. 

At this point a new character steps upon the 
scene. Melchizedek, king of Salem or Jerusalem, 
"the city of Peace," brought bread and wine to 
refresh Abram and his men. And he blessed 
Abram in the name of God Most High, whose 
priest he was. And Abram accepted the blessing 
with gladness, and gave him tithes of all that 
he had. 

Imagination has played round the figure of Mel- 
chizedek. The Epistle to the Hebrews describes 
him as "without father, without mother/ ' and 
likens him to Jesus Christ, the Son of God Most 
High. The writer means that he received his 
kingdom, not by inheritance from father or 



50 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

mother, but directly from God Most High, because 
of his name and character. Melchizedek is "the 
king of Righteousness"; and only a king of 
Righteousness could be prince of "the city of 
Peace." The character of Melchizedek was in all 
respects equal to his name. He lived in the fear 
of God Most High, and ruled his kingdom with 
justice. Thus he kept the city in peace, and be- 
came a prophecy of Him who is the true King of 
Righteousness and Prince of Peace. 

We must sometimes fight, and we should then 
fight as bravely as Abram did. But we all love 
peace. We wish to have peace of mind. We wish 
to live in peace with our neighbours. And we long 
to see peace on earth. But peace will only come 
through righteousness. We can have no peace 
of mind if we do wrong. For conscience will keep 
us troubled and tormented. Nor can we have 
peace with our neighbours if we treat them un- 
fairly. Our foolish quarrels all spring from in- 
justice in some form or other. And the wars 
that have deluged the world in blood are the result 
of men's selfishness and greed. The angel of 
peace will descend on earth when we learn to do 
the right, straight thing to everyone, when we 
play fair in our games and in our work, when we 
deal with others as we would be dealt with our- 
selves. For, as Isaiah saw long ago, 

"The effect of righteousness shall be peace, 
And the fruit of justice abiding security; 
My people shall dwell in abodes of peace, 
In sure habitations and quiet resting-places. ' ' 
Isaiah xxxii : 17, 18- 



xn 

THE FLAMING TOECH 

THE excitement of battle was over, and Abram 
returned to bis flocks and berds. Once more 
be felt lonely and discouraged. He was sur- 
rounded by jealous neigbbours wbo sougbt to take 
advantage of bim. At any moment, too, Cbedor- 
laomer migbt fall upon bim witb stronger forces. 
And tbere was no sweet sound of cbildisb voices 
in tbe borne to cbeer bim, no young life to sbare 
bis burdens, and to inberit bis substance wben be 
was gone. "Bebold! I sball pass away cbildless, 
and tbe beir of my bousebold sball be tbis Eliezer 
of Damascus/ ' But tbe word of tbe Lord came 
to bim in a dream by nigbt, saying, "Fear not, 
Abram ! I am tby sbield ; and tby reward sball be 
exceeding great. " His enemies migbt be many and 
powerful, but God would defend bim against tbem 
all. And bis reward would be great beyond bis 
expectations. In God's good time a son would be 
given bim. And wben be was gatbered to bis 
fatbers in peace, tbat son would be beir botb to 
bis wealtb and to bis blessing. And bis seed 
would become as numerous as tbe stars of beaven. 
And after years of affliction and exile tbey would 
receive tbe land of Palestine as tbeir borne. And 
tbe blessing would never fail tbem, but would be 
51 



53 THE, ENCHANTED GARDEN 

as a light upon their path, "shining more and 
more unto the perfect day." 

Abram believed God, and He counted it to him 
for righteousness. Yet he wished for a sign that 
all this would happen. So God said to him, ' ' Take 
me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of 
three years old, and a ram of three years old, and 
a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' ' And he took 
them all, and divided them in two, and laid the 
pieces over against each other. And when the 
birds of prey swooped down upon the pieces, he 
drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram 
sank into a deep sleep, "and, lo! an horror of 
great darkness fell upon him.'' Then he saw in 
his dreams a furnace belching forth volumes of 
fire and smoke. From the mouth of the furnace 
their leapt a tongue of fire, like a ' i flaming torch, ' ' 
which passed between the pieces, and consumed 
them. So God accepted the sacrifice. And that 
same night He made a covenant with Abram that 
He would assuredly fulfill all His promises. 

The flaming torch is just the light which ac- 
companies God's presence. Sometimes that light 
rises like the morning sun, scattering the shadows 
of night, and flooding the world with brightness 
and warmth. Sometimes it blazes like "a con- 
suming fire," melting all things by its heat. But 
even when it burns, it purifies and saves. The 
rough ore from the mine is thrown into the cruci- 
ble, and passed through red-hot flames. The alloy 
is melted off, and the sterling gold comes out. 
Thus also God's presence refines our souls, burn- 
ing up what is false and foul in us, and making 
what is good shine with a purer lustre. So He 



THE FLAMINGG TORCH 53 

prepares us to dwell at last in that light of His 
in which there is no darkness. 

" God's eternal fires are melting 

Precious gold from meaner dross; 
God alone completes the labour — 
Love allows no flaw or loss. 

Love will cast the priceless treasure 

Into fair enduring mould; 
God will burnish bright His metal — 

Virgin grain of proven gold." 



XIII 
THE GOD THAT SEES 

YEARS passed, and no child came to Abram's 
home. At last Sarai lost all patience, and re- 
solved to take things into her own hands. So she 
followed an evil custom of the time, and gave her 
Egyptian maid Hagar to Abram as a second wife. 
Hagar became quite vain of her new position, and 
soon began to despise her mistress. This roused 
Sarai's quick temper, and she treated Hagar so 
harshly that the poor girl fled from her presence, 
and like a wounded creature made tracks for her 
old home in Egypt. When she reached the desert 
of Shur, close to the Egyptian border, she lay 
down wearied beside a well. There the angel of 
the Lord appeared to her, saying, "Hagar, Sarai's 
maid, whence earnest thou? and whither goest 
thou?" Hagar answered and said, "I flee from 
the presence of Sarai, my mistress." Then the 
angel said, "Return to thy mistress, and submit 
thyself to her hands." And He went on to prom- 
ise her a son called Ishmael, which means "God 
heareth," because God had heard the cry of her 
affliction. And Hagar said, "Thou art a God 
that seeth," and she called the name of the well 
Beer-lahai-roi, "The well of the Living One that 
seeth me." 
A writer much loved by young folk, Sir J. M. 

54 



THE GOD THAT SEES 55 

Barrie, tells us in A Window in Thrums that this 
was his mother's favourite text, and that she 
learned to love it through a terrible experience 
that happened to her. She had a little son, Joey, 
who meant to be a minister, and planned to preach 
his first sermon from "Thou God seest me." But 
when he was six years old a cart ran over him, 
and "a handful of men carried Joey's dead body 
to his mother. ' 9 Twenty years afterward she said, 
"That day he was coffined, for all the minister 
prayed, I found it hard to say, 'Thou God seest 
me. ' It 's the text I like best noo, though, an ' when 
Hendry an' Leeby is at the kirk, I turn't up often, 
often in the Bible. I read frae the beginnin' o' 
the chapter, but when I come to 'Thou God seest 
me, ' I stop an' let the Book lie in my lap, for aince 
a body's sure o' that they're sure o' all. I dinna 
ken 'at I would ever hae been sae sure o' that 
if it hadna been for him, an' so I think I see 'im 
sailin' doon to the pulpit juist as he said he 
would do." 

I fear to many of us the text is not so dear as 
it was to her. We have been taught by some 
foolish nurse or teacher to think of God's eye as 
a great lantern staring down from the sky upon 
us, spying on all we do. And we try to keep away 
from the sight of it. We feel like the child who 
said, "Oh, I wish there were at least one room 
in the house where God could not see me." But 
God's eye is not that of a spy: it is that of a 
Father. We know what a joy it is to wake up in 
the morning and find the eyes of father or mother 
bent over us. Or if we are walking with our 
friends, and see them coming to meet us, how our 



56 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

own eyes light up with pleasure ! If we are run- 
ning a race, or playing some other game, how keen 
we are to do our best if we know they are watch- 
ing us ! If we are hurt, or in trouble of any kind, 
what a comfort just to look into their eyes, and 
drink in the love and sympathy that pour from 
them as from a fountain ! And on the closing day 
of school, when we are called up for the prizes we 
have won, how our faces flush with happiness if 
we catch their eyes gleaming with pride at our 
success ! The eye of God is even more tender than 
that of a parent. It falls upon us when we do 
wrong, but far more in love than in anger. When 
the prodigal left his father's home, the father 
watched for his return day after day ; and when at 
last he saw him afar off, his eyes shone with a 
great glow of affection, and he ran, and fell on his 
neck, and kissed him. God's eye is fixed on us with 
a love like that. It is filled with tears of sorrow 
when we sin, and with tears of gladness when we 
come back to Him. It overflows with pity when 
we are in trouble, and with pleasure when we are 
happy. Above all, it shines with joy when we do 
well. If we love God as our Father in heaven, 
we shall do what we can to bring Him this joy. 
Then we shall no longer fear His eye upon us, 
but shall be glad like Hagar to think that 

"God is always near me, 
Hearing what I say, 
Knowing all my thoughts and deeds, 
All my work and play; 

God is always near me — 
In the darkest night 



THE GOD THAT SEES 57 

He can see me just the same 
As by mid-day light ; 

God is always near me, 

Though so young and small ; 
Not a look, or word, or thought, 

But God knows it all. ' ' 



XIV 
A GOOD MAN'S PRAYER 

HAGAR returned to her mistress, and soon 
Ishmael was born. He grew np a strong, 
sturdy boy, full of spirit, free and daring as a 
young wild ass. Abram loved his open, sunny 
ways, and longed that he might "live before the 
Lord," and so become heir to the promised bless- 
ing. But God appeared once more to Abram, and 
told him that in another year Sarai would have a 
son called Isaac, "the laughing boy," who would 
not merely gladden their own hearts, but would be 
a fountain of joy to all the world. And in token 
of the promise He changed his name to Abraham, 
"father of a multitude," while Sarai 's name He 
changed to Sarah, "princess," for she would be 
the mother of many kings and princes. 

A few months later, Abraham was sitting at 
his tent door in the plains of Mamre, when he 
lifted up his eyes and saw three men standing 
near him in the heat of the day. With true East- 
ern hospitality, he ran to meet them, bowed him- 
self toward the ground, and invited them to rest 
a little and wash their dusty feet under the oak 
of Mamre, while he would fetch them "a morsel 
of food." Then he hastened to Sarah, and bade 
her knead three measures of fine flour, and make 
it into pancakes. Next he ran to the flock, and 



A GOOD MAN'S PRAYER 59 

picked out a calf " tender and good," and gave 
it to a young man to prepare. When all was 
ready, lie brought the cakes and the calf, with 
some curds and milk, and spread a table for them 
on the green grass under the tree, waiting upon 
them in person while they ate the food. 

These men were messengers from the Lord, and 
they began to tell him again of the boy Isaac who 
should be given to Sarah and him. All this time 
Sarah remained hidden behind the curtain of the 
door. When she heard the men speak of Isaac, 
she laughed in sheer unbelief. Then one of the 
men, who was the angel of the Lord, said to 
Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything 
too hard for the Lord? At the set time, when the 
season cometh round, I will return unto thee, and 
Sarah shall have a son." In great fear Sarah 
denied that she had laughed. But the angel said, 
"Nay; but thou didst laugh." And Sarah stood 
blushing for shame. 

When the meal was finished, the three men rose 
up, and turned their eyes toward Sodom, while 
Abraham went to escort them a little distance on 
their way. Then the angel of the Lord said, 
"Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am 
about to do ? " So He told him of the sin of Sodom, 
and of His intention to destroy it utterly. Abra- 
ham's heart was filled with sorrow, not only for 
Lot and his family, but for any other innocent 
souls that might be found in the city. So he drew 
near to plead with the Lord for them. "Wilt 
thou consume the righteous with the wicked? 
Perchance there may be fifty righteous within the 
city. Wilt thou not spare the place for the fifty 



60 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

righteous that are therein? Far be it from Thee 
to slay the righteous with the wicked ! Shall not 
the Judge of all the earth do right?" And the 
Lord said, "If I find fifty righteous within the 
city, then I will spare all the place for their 
sake." And Abraham answered and said, "Be- 
hold now ! I have taken upon me to speak unto the 
Lord, though I am but dust and ashes. Perchance 
there may lack five*of the fifty righteous. Wilt 
Thou destroy all the city for lack of iiveV 1 And 
He said, "If I find there forty and five, I will not 
destroy it." And Abraham once more answered 
and said, "Perchance there may be forty found 
there." And He said, "I will not do it for forty's 
sake." And Abraham said, "Oh, let not the Lord 
be angry if I speak yet again! Perchance there 
may be thirty found there." And He said, "If 
I find thirty there, I will not do it." And Abra- 
ham said, "Behold now! I have taken upon me to 
speak unto the Lord. Perchance there may be 
twenty found there." And He said, "I will not 
destroy it for twenty's sake." And Abraham 
said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry if I speak 
again but this once ! Perchance there may be ten 
found there." And He said, "I will not destroy 
it for ten 's sake. ' ' 

Abraham could plead no more, so he returned 
to his tent, while the angel of the Lord followed 
His companions on their way toward Sodom. Per- 
haps Abraham did wrong not to plead still further. 
At all events, Jesus placed no limit to the power of 
prayer. He prayed for Jerusalem, even when He 
foretold that not one stone of the Temple would 
be left untouched upon another. He prayed for 



A GOOD MAN'S PRAYER 61 

the enemies who nailed Him to the Cross. He 
prayed for Judas who betrayed Him. So too He 
taught His disciples that they " ought always to 
pray without fainting." Not that our prayers 
are invariably answered in the way we expect! 
Like Jesus Himself, we must remember to pray, 
"Not my will, but Thine, be done." If we pray 
in this spirit, we shall not merely receive the 
answer God sees to be good for us, but we shall 
feel a warmer sympathy with those for whom 
we pray, and shall help to lift their life and our 
own a little nearer to heaven. 

"If thou shouldst never see my face again, 
Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer 
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice 
Rise like a fountain for me night and day. 
For what are men better than sheep or goats 
That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 
Both for themselves and those who call them friend ? 
For so the whole round earth is every way 
Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." 

Tennyson. 



XV 

THE SMOKING FURNACE 

WHILE the angel of the Lord talked with Ab- 
raham, the two others went on to Sodom. 
They reached the city in the cool of the evening, 
and found Lot sitting alone at the gate. As soon 
as he saw the strangers, he rose up, like Abra- 
ham, bowed himself to the ground, and begged 
them to come to his house, and spend the night 
with him. When they refused, he " urged them 
greatly"; so they went with him, and entered his 
house. "And he made them a feast, and did bake 
unleavened bread, and they did eat." But the 
men of Sodom heard of it, and they came throng- 
ing to Lot's house, and demanded that he should 
hand over the strangers to them. Fearing lest 
harm should befall his guests, Lot went out, shut- 
ting the door behind him, and prayed the men to 
leave them alone. But they began to insult him, 
and to threaten him with still worse things. "And 
they pressed sore upon Lot, and drew near to 
break the door. ,, But the angels put forth their 
hand, and pulled Lot into the house, and shut the 
door behind him. ' ( And they smote the men that 
were at the door of the house with blindness, both 
small and great, so that they wearied themselves 
to find the door." 
When they had thus saved Lot from the vio- 

62 



THE SMOKING FURNACE 63 

lence of the people, they told him of the destruc- 
tion God meant to bring on Sodom, and asked him 
to get together his wife and daughters, and the 
men who were to marry them, and flee with them 
out of the city. So he went to the men who were 
to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, get you 
out of this place! for the Lord will destroy the 
city." But he seemed to them as one that jested, 
and they refused to go with him. When the morn- 
ing broke, the angels urged Lot, saying, " Arise, 
take thy wife, and thy two daughters which are 
here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the 
city." As he still hesitated, they laid hold of his 
hand, and of the hands of his wife and daughters, 
and hurried them outside the city, and said, "Es- 
cape for thy life ! Look not behind thee, nor lin- 
ger in all the circle of the Plain! Escape to the 
mountains of Moab, lest thou be consumed!" 

The way was far, and Lot felt himself too weak 
to cover it all that day. So he pleaded with the 
angels to let him rest at Zoar, a little city near at 
hand. And the angels granted his request, and 
spared the city for his sake. By the time Lot 
reached Zoar, the sun had fully risen. Then the 
Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and up- 
on the other cities of the Plain, brimstone and fire 
out of heaven. "And He overthrew those cities, 
and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the 
cities, and everything that grew upon the ground." 
And when Abraham went that morning to the 
place where the Lord had talked with him, he lifted 
up his eyes to the Plain, t ' and lo ! the smoke of the 
land went up as the smoke of a furnace. ' ' 

The plain on which Sodom and Gomorrah once 



64 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

stood, that circle of land which seemed to Lot like 
"the garden of the Lord," is now a scene of 
ntter desolation. No tree or grass grows on it. 
No living thing crosses its dreary wastes. It is a 
standing witness to the judgment of God. The 
cities of the Plain were so corrupt that they pol- 
luted the whole land, so He had to wipe them off 
the face of the earth. We are reminded of many 
other examples of God's judgment: Babylon and 
Nineveh swallowed up by the sands of Mesopo- 
tamia, Pompeii and Herculaneum buried beneath 
the ashes of Vesuvius, Jerusalem itself rising like 
a smoking furnace before the torches of Titus and 
his soldiers. In later times we have seen great 
Empires like Spain and Germany crushed under 
the weight of their military pride, and Turkey dy- 
ing a slow death for her cruelty. As with nations; 
so with men. "The soul that sinneth, it shall 
die." He who gives himself up to sinful indul- 
gence falls a victim to loathsome disease. Even 
if he live on, his life is but a lingering death. His 
bodily strength is sapped, his senses are dulled, 
his conscience is seared as with a hot iron, his af- 
fections are hardened. At last he sinks into the 
grave like a spent volcano. And after death he 
must meet God with a soul naked and empty, a 
prey to the worm that dieth not and the fire that 
is not quenched. 

" Though the mills of God grind slowly, 
Yet they grind exceeding small; 
Though with patience He stands waiting, 
With exactness grinds He all." 

Longfellow. 



XVI 
THE WELL IN THE WILDEBNESS 

SOON after Abraham returned from watching 
the smoke of Sodom, his son Isaac was born. 
Sarah could now laugh, not in unbelief, but for 
pure joy of heart. Abraham was as happy as she. 
Though now an old man, he loved to dandle the 
boy on his knee, to play with him, and to sing him 
the sweet songs of childhood. On the day he was 
weaned, he made a great feast, at which the whole 
camp sat down to share in his happiness. But one 
little cloud threw a shadow over his mirth. Sarah 
saw Ishmael, the son of Hagar, playing with 
Isaac. Annoyed that he should have an equal 
place with Isaac in the home, she demanded that 
Abraham should cast him out with his mother. 
Abraham was grieved to part with Ishmael, for 
he still loved the high-spirited boy. Yet Isaac 
was his heir, and could not enjoy his rightful 
standing in the camp if Ishmael were allowed to 
remain. So he rose up early in the morning, and 
took bread and a skin full of water, and placed 
them on Hagar 's shoulder, with the child, and 
sent her away. Once more the friendless girl 
turned her steps in the direction of Egypt. But 
when she reached the wilderness of Beersheba, 
many miles from her journey's end, she found 
the water spent in the skin. Having no hope of 
65 



66 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

saving the child's life, she cast him tinder a shrub 
in the wilderness, while she went and sat down 
about a bowshot off, that she might not see him 
die. But God heard Ishmael's cry, and He sent 
an angel who called to Hagar from heaven, say- 
ing, "What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not! for 
God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine 
hand; for I will make of him a great nation.' ' 
Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of 
water; "and she went, and filled the skin with 
water, and gave the lad drink." 

The African traveller, Mungo Park, was once 
wandering like Hagar through the wilderness. 
He was alone, destitute, robbed of all he had, and 
in danger from men and beasts. He felt as if 
nothing remained for him but to lie down and die. 
But at that moment "the extraordinary beauty of 
a small moss" caught his eye, and he reflected, 
that he was still "under the protecting eye of that 
Providence who has condescended to call Him- 
self the stranger's friend.' f So he rose to his 
feet, and continued his journey with new courage 
and hope ; assured that relief was at hand. And in 
this he was not disappointed. On another occa- 
sion, when he was almost parched with thirst, he 
heard in the distance the loud, harsh noise of the 
croaking of frogs. In his ears it sounded like 
"heavenly music," for it sang of water. He fol- 
lowed the sound, and ere long arrived at some 
muddy pools, "so full of frogs that it was diffi- 
cult to discern the water." But to the thirsty 
traveller those muddy pools were as truly a gift 
of God as the purest and freshest of springs. So 



THE WELL IN THE WILDERNESS 67 

once more he lifted his eyes to heaven, and 
thanked the Friend who had provided for his 
needs by opening np a "well in the wilderness.' ' 
And he went on his way with a brave, glad heart. 
If only onr eyes are open to the goodness of 
God, we shall find many such wells in the wilder- 
ness. A glint of sunshine piercing the mist, the 
virgin beauty of the snowdrop, the lark's song in 
the sky, the rippling laughter of a child, "the lit- 
tle, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and 
of love": all these are fountains of living water, 
which refresh our thirsty souls, and help us to 
carry on the daily round with thankfulness and 
joy. As Robert Louis Stevenson says, 

"The world is so full of a number of thing, 
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings." 

But the true well of life is found in Jesus 
Christ. He that tastes even of the sweetest 
springs of earthly enjoyment shall thirst again; 
"but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I 
shall give him shall be in him a well of water 
springing up into everlasting life." 



xvn 

SWEAKING AN OATH 

ABEAHAM now moved south to Gerar, on the 
Philistine border. Here, too, he built an 
altar, and called on the name of the Lord. All 
things continued to prosper under his hand. 
When Abimelech, king of Gerar, saw how God 
was with him in all that he did, he asked Abra- 
ham to swear an oath that he would be his 
friend, and would show kindness to himself, and 
his son, and his son's son, as he had shown kind- 
ness to him. So Abraham swore an oath. But 
soon there came a rift in their friendship. Abime- 
lech 's servants had seized some wells that Abra- 
ham had digged, and Abraham went to Abime- 
lech to complain. Abimelech said he knew 
nothing at all about the matter. So Abraham 
digged another well. And he brought seven ewe 
lambs from his flock, and gave them to Abimelech 
as a witness that the well was his. And the two 
of them made a covenant with one another, and 
swore an oath to maintain it. And they called the 
name of the place Beersheba, "the Well of the 
Oath." 

In swearing the oath, Abraham was just con- 
forming to the practice of his time. Men had then 
so little faith in each other's word that they would 
believe nothing that was not backed by an oath. 



SWEARING AN OATH 69 

So they swore not only in God's name, but by 
heaven and earth, by Jerusalem, even by the hair 
of the head. I fear the habit of swearing has by 
no means died ont. There are many among ns, 
boys as well as men, who punctuate every other 
sentence by an oath. Such a practice is very dis- 
pleasing to God. The third commandment says, 
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guilt- 
less that taketh his name in vain." And Jesus 
bids us swear not at all. "Let your communica- 
tion be Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is 
more than these cometh of evil." 

No one follows Jesus ' rule in this respect more 
sincerely than the Quakers. They will not even 
take an oath in the law-courts. But just because 
of this men accept their word without a shadow 
of doubt. For the simpler our speech, the more 
men trust it. Should we have occasion to take an 
oath as witnesses or servants of the State, let us 
do it with all solemnity, as before the everlasting 
God. Otherwise, let our words be pure and true. 
And men will honour us as they did Proteus, of 
whom Shakespeare writes in The Two Gentlemen 
of Verona: 

"His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles, 
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate, 
His tears pure messengers sent from his heart, 
His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth." 

Shakespeare. 



xvm 

THE RAM IN THE THICKET 

ABRAHAM was at last reaping the full reward 
of his faith. He was prosperous in business, 
rich in goods, surrounded by all the comforts that 
wealth could buy him. He enjoyed the respect of 
his neighbours. Above all, he was happy in his 
home. Sarah was more than ever the delight of 
his eyes. And their son Isaac was growing up to 
be a fine young man, the joy and hope of their 
declining years. But at the very moment when; 
the star of Abraham's fortune seemed to shine 
most brightly, his faith was touched to the quick. 
It was the custom in those days for a father to 
offer up his eldest son as a sacrifice to the gods. 
Abraham felt called upon to make the same great 
proof of faith. One evening, as he slept, he 
heard a voice saying to him, " Abraham, Abra- 
ham !" He answered, "Here am I." Then the 
voice said, "Take now thy son, thine only son, 
whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into 
the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a 1 
burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I will 
tell thee of." How these words must have cut 
into Abraham's heart! But he would not with- 
hold even Isaac from the Lord. So he "rose 
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and 
took two of his young men with him, and Isaao 

70 



THE RAM IN THE THICKET 71 

his son j and he set off toward the place of which 
God had told him.' ' 

On the third day of their journey, "Abraham 
lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off;" 
so he left his young men with the ass, took the 
fire and the knife in his hand, laid the wood for 
the burnt-offering on Isaac's shoulder, "and they 
went on both of them together.' ' As they con- 
tinued their journey in silence, Isaac said to Ab- 
raham, ' ' My father ! ' ' And Abraham said, ' ' Here 
am I, my son." And he said, "Behold! the fire 
and the wood : but where is the lamb for a burnt- 
offering?" And Abraham said, "God will see 
to the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son." So 
they went on both of them together. 

When they came to the place that God had told 
him of, Abraham built an altar, laid the wood in 
order upon it, bound Isaac his son, and placed 
him on the altar, above the wood. Then he 
stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to 
slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called 
to him out of heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abra- 
ham!" And he said, "Here am I." And the 
angel said: "Put not forth thine hand against the 
lad, nor do any harm to him at all ! for now I know 
that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not with- 
held thy son, thine only son, from me." And Ab- 
raham lifted up his eyes, and behold ! there was a 
ram caught by his horns in a thicket near him. 
And Abraham went and took the ram, and of- 
fered him up for a burnt-offering instead of hia 
son. And he named the place Jehovah- Jireh, 
' ' The Lord will see to it. ' ' 

Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham 



73 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

a second time out of heaven, and said, "By myself 
have I sworn, saith the Lord : Because thou hast 
done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, 
thine only son, I will bless thee abundantly, and 
will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and 
as the sand which is upon the sea shore ; and thy 
seed shall win possession of the gate of their 
enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of 
the earth be blessed.' ' And Abraham returned to 
his young men, and they rose up and went together 
to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. 

A little girl once heard a minister pleading for 
Christmas gifts to the poor. He said they must 
give the very best they had. The girl had just 
received a beautiful doll, chosen and dressed by 
her mother with loving care. So she gave this. 
It was like sacrificing her own child, and nearly 
broke her heart, while it caused pain also to her 
mother, who felt that her gift was not appre- 
ciated. But God does not mean us to make 
martyrs of ourselves or our children without 
cause. The sacrifice He asks for is the willing 
sacrifice of heart and mind. That is, he wishes 
us to live for His honour, to use our talents faith- 
fully, and to do what we can to make this world 
a better place. He wishes also that we should 
train our children to walk in the same ways. If 
in course of time He bid us give them to some 
great labour of love, at home or abroad, "the 
Lord will see to it." As Jesus said, "There is no 
man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, 
or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, 
who shall not receive manifold more in this present 
time, and in the world to come life everla sting.' * 



XIX 
A LONELY GEAVE 

ABEAHAM was now called to drink the bit- 
terest cup of sorrow. His wife Sarah died 
in Hebron, the centre of so many happy mem- 
ories. "And Abraham went in to mourn for 
Sarah, and to weep for her." When his first 
outbreak of grief was over he had to find a grave 
in which to bury her. So he went to the children 
of Heth, who owned the land near Hebron, and 
with delicate courtesy laid his request before 
them. "I am a stranger and a sojourner with 
you : I pray you, give me possession of a burying- 
place with you, that I may bury my dead out of 
my sight.' ' With equal courtesy the children of 
Heth met his request. "Hear us, my lord! Thou 
art a prince of God among us. Therefore in the 
choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead ; for none 
of us will withhold his sepulchre from thee." 
Then Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the 
ground before the children of Heth, and said to 
them: "If ye be willing that I should bury my 
dead out of my sight, I pray you, speak a good 
word for me with Ephron, the son of Zohar, that 
he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which is 
in the corner of the field that belongeth to him. 
For the full market price let him give it to me 
in your presence as a burying- ground. ' ' 
73 



74 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

Then Ephron, the son of Zohar, answered and 
said to Abraham: "I pray thee, my lord, hear 
me ! The field and the cave that is therein I give 
thee as a free gift : in the presence of the sons of 
my people I give it thee. Bnry thy dead in it." 
Once more Abraham bowed himself to the gronnd 
before the children of Heth, and said to Ephron 
in the presence of his people : "If thon wonldest 
but hear me ! Of a surety I will give thee the price 
of the field. Take it of me, that I may bury my 
dead there. ' ' Then Ephron answered and said to 
Abraham : "I pray thee, my lord, hear me ! It is 
land worth four hundred shekels of silver, but 
what is that between me and thee ! Bury thy dead 
in it." And Abraham weighed out the amount 
of silver Ephron had mentioned, even four hun- 
dred shekels of silver, in money current with the 
merchants, and gave it to Ephron. So the field 
of Machpelah, with the cave that was in it, was 
made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the 
presence of all the children of Heth who went in 
at the gate of the city. Aoid Abraham buried 
Sarah in the cave. 

Thus Abraham's first stake in Palestine was a 
grave. For centuries he and his family had no 
other foothold in the land. But the sacred dust 
that lay there was the pledge of full possession. 
And to the present day Machpelah is the most 
hallowed spot in Palestine alike to Jews and 
Moslems. So, too, the graves of our fathers are 
our most precious claim to an inheritance in our 
country's glory. 



A LONELY GRAVE 75 

"Our fathers' sepulchres are here, 
And here our kindred dwell, 
Our children, too; how should we love 
Another land so well ? ' ' 

In a special sense the fields on which brave men 
fought and died are holy ground. The Greeks 
honoured Thermopylae as the altar of their free- 
dom. For the same reason the Englishman ven- 
erates Kunnymede, the Scotsman Bannockbnrn, 
the American Gettysburg, and all together the 
blood-red plains of France and Flanders. Over 
each of them we may breathe Lincoln's immortal 
words at Gettysburg: 

"We are met on a great battle-field. "We have 
come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final 
resting-place for those who here gave their lives 
that the nation might live. It is altogether fitting 
and proper that we should do this. But, in a 
larger sense, we cannot dedicate — we cannot con- 
secrate—we cannot hallow — this ground. The 
brave men, living and dead, who struggled here 
have consecrated it far above our poor power to 
add or detract. The world will little note, nor 
long remember, what we say here, but it can never 
forget what they did here. It is for us the living, 
rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly 
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated 
to the great task remaining before us — that from 
these honoured dead we take increased devotion to 
that cause for which they gave the last full meas- 
ure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that 
these dead shall not have died in vain — that this 



76 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

nation, nnder God, shall have a new birth of free- 
dom — and that government of the people, by the 
people, for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. ' ' 

Bnt there is one spot on earth more sacred to 
the heart of Christians thai) any of these. It is 
the grave where onr Lord lay, and from which He 
rose victorious on the first Easter morning. That 
grave is the centre of all onr hope ; for it brings 
us the assurance of life eternal. As He rose, we 
shall rise. As He lives, we shall live. 

"0 death, where is thy sting? 
grave, where is thy victory? 
The sting of death is sin; 

And the strength of sin is the law. 
But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, 
Through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

1 Cor. xi:55-57. 



XX 

AN EVENING EOMANCE 

FEOM scenes of death and burial we pass to 
one of the most charming idylls in the Bible. 
Isaac had now reached full manhood, and must 
marry and settle down in life. It was the father's 
duty then to arrange a marriage for his son. Now 
Abraham did not wish Isaac to take to wife any 
of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom 
he dwelt. So he sent his servant Eliezer of 
Damascus to Haran, his old home, to fetch him a 
bride from among his own people and kindred. 
Eliezer took ten of his master's camels, laden with 
costly presents, and went to Haran. He reached the 
gate of the city one evening, " about the time when 
the women go out to draw water.' ' So he made 
his camels kneel down beside the well, and prayed 
to the Lord, the God of his master Abraham, to 
send him good speed, and show kindness unto his 
master Abraham. Then he thought of a sign by 
which he should know the bride whom God had 
chosen for Isaac. " Behold! I stand by the well, 
and the daughters of the men of the city are now 
coming out to draw water. If then I say to a girl, 
'Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may 
drink,' and she say, ' Drink, and I will give thy 
camels drink also,' let her be the one whom Thou 
has appointed for Thy servant Isaac!" 
77 



78 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

Eliezer had hardly uttered the words when 
Eebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of 
Abraham's brother Nahor, came down to the well, 
with her pitcher on her shoulder. Eebekah was a 
young woman of great beauty, "very fair to look 
upon." She had also that winsome grace which 
comes from a kindly heart. Thus no sooner did 
Eliezer ask for a drink than she hastened to let 
down her pitcher, and gave him drink. When she 
had satisfied him, she said, "I will draw for thy 
camels also, until they have had enough.' ' So 
she hastened to empty her pitcher into the trough, 
and ran again to the well, and drew water for all 
his camels. All this time Eliezer watched her in 
silence, wondering in his heart whether the Lord 
had thus early answered his prayer. When she 
had finished giving the camels drink, he had no 
more doubt. So he took a gold ring of half a 
shekel weight, and two gold bracelets of ten 
shekels weight, and placed them on her hands. 
And he asked her whose daughter she was, and 
whether there was room in her father's house for 
him and his camels to lodge in. She told him she 
was Eebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, and as- 
sured him there was both room and food in the 
house for them to lodge in. And Eliezer bowed 
his head, and worshipped the Lord, and said, 
1 ' Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abra- 
ham, who hath not left off His loving-kindness and 
His truth toward my master, but hath guided me 
in the straight way toward the house of my mas- 
ter's brother." 

Meanwhile Eebekah had run home, and told the 
whole house what had happened. She had a 



AN EVENING ROMANCE 79 

brother called Laban, a man who dearly loved the 
sight of gold. When he heard Rebekah's words, 
and saw the ring and the bracelets npon her hands, 
he ran to Eliezer, as he still lingered with his 
camels ronnd the well, and said, "Come in, thou 
hlessed of the Lord! Why remainest thou here 
outside the gate? For I have set the house in 
order, and prepared room for the camels also." 
And he brought him to the house, and ungirded 
his camels. Then he fetched him water to wash 
his own feet and the feet of his attendants; and 
he set meat before him, and provided straw and 
food for the camels as well. But Eliezer would not 
eat until he had told his errand. So he related 
the full story of his adventures since Abraham 
had sent him to get a bride for Isaac, and asked 
them to tell him plainly whether they would show 
his master "loving-kindness and truth' ' in send- 
ing Rebekah back with him. Then Laban and his 
father Bethuel answered and said, "The thing 
cometh from the Lord; we cannot say yes or no. 
Behold! Rebekah is before thee. Take her, and 
go, that she may be thy master's son's wife, as 
the Lord hath spoken." And Eliezer bowed him- 
self with his face to the earth before the Lord. 
Then he opened his baggage, and brought out 
ornaments of gold and silver, with many fine 
clothes, as a present for Rebekah. He gave Laban 
and his mother also gifts of various "precious 
things. ' ' And he and his men ate and drank with 
them, and stayed in the house all night. 

In the morning Eliezer rose up early, and asked 
to be sent home at once to his master. Laban and 
his mother begged that Rebekah be allowed to 



80 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

remain at least ten days with them. But Eliezer 
said to them, "Hinder me not, seeing that the 
Lord hath prospered my journey.' ' So they laid 
the matter before Eebekah herself, and said, 
"Wilt thou go with this man?" And she said, 
"I will go." And they sent her away, with De- 
borah her nurse, and blessed her as she went. 
Joyfully then Eliezer marched homeward, and in 
due time reached Beer-lahai-roi, "the Well of the 
Living One that seeth me," where Isaac was then 
encamped. A quiet, thoughtful man, he had gone 
out to the fields to meditate in the cool of the 
evening, when he lifted up his eyes, and looked, 
and behold! there were camels coming. He did 
not know yet that the camels were his own, still 
less did he know of Eebekah. But she had caught 
sight of him, and asked who he was. When she 
heard he was Isaac, she alighted from her camel, 
veiled herself as Eastern etiquette demanded, and 
went to meet him. With a glad heart Isaac wel- 
comed her. Then he brought her into his tent, 
and she became his wife. And he loved her, and 
was comforted in her after his mother's death. 

We all wish to be loved as Eebekah was. If so, 
we must have a spirit like hers. It is not enough 
to be beautiful. It is not even enough to be good. 
There are many good people who are far from 
lovable. Like Aunt Mirandy, in Mrs. Wiggin's 
delightful Rebecca of Sunnybroolc Farm, they are 
' ' turrible hard to get along with, an ' kind o ' heave 
benefits at your head same 's they would bricks. ' ' 
To be loved, we must have grace as well as good- 
ness. We must be open-hearted, cheerful, kindly, 
ready to help our neighbours in their needs, and 



AN EVENING ROMANCE 81 

to do it with shining' face and lightsome step. The 
girl or woman with a disposition like this cannot 
fail to be loved. 

' ' She is a woman to love, to love 

As maid or wife, 
And all of her that is sweet and true — 
"Which is all of her — she will give to you, 

To perfect life. 

You cannot help but love, but love, 

Nobody can. 
She carries a charm with her everywhere: 
In her gait in her glance, in her voice, in her hair, 

Bewitching man. 

Hear her laugh, as the children play, 

See her bring 
Light to the eyes of the old and weak; 
And oh how wisely her lips can speak 

As well as sing! 

That is a woman to love, to love, 

And to wonder at, 
For whether she talks or walks, or rides, 
'Tis as if she had never done aught besides 

But perfect that. 

W. C. Smith. 



XXI 

OLD WELLS OPENED AGAIN 

ABEAHAM saw his plans for Isaac blessed of 
the Lord. He could now depart in peace. 
1 ' Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a 
good old age, and was gathered to his people.' ' 
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him beside 
Sarah in the cave of Machpelah. Their lives had 
lain apart since the day when Ishmael and his 
mother had been sent from the camp at Hebron. : 
Ishmael had been a hunter in the wilderness, while 
Isaac tended his cattle in the pastures round Beer- 
sheba. For a moment they clasped hands over 
their father's bier. Then they separated again, 
Ishmael returning to his game; and Isaac to his 
flocks and herds. 

Isaac's life is but a feeble echo of his father's. 
Almost all we read of him is that he occupied 
Abraham's camping-grounds, that he built an 
altar, "and called upon the name of the Lord," 
as Abraham had done; that he forgot the Lord 
and sinned, as he had sinned, and that "he digged 
again the wells of water which his father's serv- 
ants had digged, but the Philistines had stopped 
and filled with earth," after the death of 
Abraham. 

In all this record there is nothing very heroic. 
Yet the picture is one of a good and useful life. 
Isaac kept up the traditions that had made his 

82 



OLD WELLS OPENED AGAIN 83 

father great. He was diligent in his business. He 
looked to the welfare of his household and his 
cattle. He turned the desert into fruitful soil by 
opening up the old wells. He maintained the pur- 
ity of the home. Above all, he was true to his 
father's faith, and handed it down with light un- 
dimmed to his children. So the Lord blessed him, 
as He had blessed Abraham. " Isaac sowed, and 
reaped that same year an hundredfold. Ajid he 
grew richer and richer, until he was very rich. And 
he had great possessions of flocks and herds, and 
many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.' ' 
Few of us can be bold and original characters 
like Abraham. We must be content to move in 
the common planes of life. Perhaps we have to 
follow our fathers' footsteps as closely as Isaac 
did, to succeed them in business, and to inherit 
their home and goods. If so, we must be careful 
to keep the old wells flowing. We must work as 
earnestly as our fathers did. We must love and 
honour home as they did. Above all, we must 
stand fast by our fathers' faith. " Trust in God, 
and do the right." And He will bless you wher- 
ever your lot be cast. 

"Is your place a small place? 
Tend it with care! — 
He set you there. 

Is your place a large place ? 

Guard it with care ! — 

He set you there. 

Whate'er your place, it is 
Not yours alone, but His 
Who set you there." 

John Oxenham. 



xxn 

THE SALE OF A BIETHRIGHT 

LIKE their parents, Isaac and Rebekah had 
many years to wait before children came to 
them. At last twin sons, Esau and Jacob, were 
born. Esau was a rough, shaggy boy, who loved 
the open air, while Jacob was a soft, delicate child, 
who preferred to stay in the tent. As they grew 
up, Esau became a hunter like his uncle Ishmael, 
while Jacob attended to the cattle with his father. 
Their characters were as different as their call- 
ings. Esau was a big, warm-hearted, frank and 
generous fellow, the very type of a gallant sports- 
man, fond of good company, and popular with 
everyone. Jacob was quiet and reserved, cold in 
manner, deep and crafty, with a furtive look in 
his eye that led men to distrust him. Jacob was, 
in fact, a born schemer, who would stick at noth- 
ing to carry through his schemes. Yet there were 
elements of real greatness in him. Esau was only 
what he appeared on the surface. As the Apostle 
says, he was a "profane man"; that is, a mere 
worldling, with no regard for God or things 
eternal. But Jacob had from the beginning a true 
sense of the value of life. He was ambitious to 
excel, he had strength of mind and purpose enough 
to follow out his ambitions, and he had patience 
to wait for success. Among his chief ambitions 
84 



THE SALE OF A BIRTHRIGHT 85 

was to stand high in the kingdom of God. He 
knew that in his family lay the line of royal de- 
scent. And he was eager to be a link in the chain, 
to take his place with Abraham and Isaac among 
the fathers of the faithful. 

The ambition was quite honourable. But the 
means he took were wrong. As the elder son, 
Esau was entitled to be his father's heir. Jacob 
felt he could reach his ambition in no other way 
than by winning over the birthright to himself. 
So he plotted to oust his brother. The chance 
came one day when Esau returned home faint 
with hunger from the chase. Jacob was cooking 
some lentil pottage. Seeing the savoury mess, 
Esau blurted out: " Hallo! let me swallow down 
some of that red stuff! for I am faint.' ' Jacob 
quietly answered: "Yes! if you first sell me your 
birthright. ,, With a coarse laugh Esau disposed 
of the matter. "Behold! I am at the point of 
death: so what is the use of the birthright to 
me! " To clinch the bargain Jacob asked him to 
swear an oath to him. Just as carelessly he swore 
the oath. Then Jacob gave him pottage and 
bread; and he ate and drank, rose up, and went 
his way. "Thus Esau despised his birthright.' ' 

We cannot too strongly condemn the trick by 
which Jacob secured the inheritance. But the 
Bible condemns Esau's conduct still more 
strongly. His was no ordinary birthright. He 
was heir to all the great and precious promises of 
God. He ought also to have been the ancestor 
of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. But 
this he threw away for a mess of pottage ! Not 
that he really intended to part with his birthright. 



86 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

The day came when he bitterly regretted his fool- 
ish bargain. It was his rooted worldliness of 
mind that played him false. Like the Man with 
the Muck-rake in The Pilgrim's Progress, he could 
not lift up his eyes to the angel holding the celes- 
tial crown over his head, "but raked to himself 
the straws, the small sticks, and dust of the 
floor." 

Many are still throwing away their birthright 
for trifles as light as these. The boy at school 
wastes the precious hours in idleness. The young 
man loses his chance of success through excessive 
love of amusement. The heir to a princely for- 
tune squanders it in frivolity and vice. The pos- 
sessor of brilliant gifts degrades himself and 
them by intemperence. The prodigal exchanges 
the joys of his Father's home for "the husks that 
the swine eat." While we avoid Jacob's mean- 
ness, therefore, we should take to heart his ambi- 
tion to succeed in life, his spirit of steadfast pur- 
pose and resolution, his willingness to climb the 
ladder step by step, his patience in biding his 
time. Above all, we should imitate him in his 
desire for a high place in the kingdom of God. 
For he that stands high with God reaches also 
the best in life. 



"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

P. J. Bailey. 



xxni 

THE STOLEN BLESSING- 

TSAAC 'S life went on in the same narrow grooves 
* At last he became old and blind. Feeling that 
his end was near, he called his son Esau to him, 
and bade him take his bow and arrows, go to the 
field, and get him some venison, make it into 
savoury meat, such as he loved, and bring it to 
him, that he might eat, and then bless him before 
he died. In obedience to his father's wish, Esau 
set out to the field to hunt for venison. But 
Eebekah had overheard Isaac's words. So she 
called Jacob, who was her favourite, and bade 
him go to the flock, and bring two young kids, 
which she would make into savoury meat for his 
father, that he might receive the blessing instead 
of Esau. Jacob did as his mother told him. Then 
Eebekah made savoury meat, such as Isaac loved, 
and placed it in Jacob's hand, with some bread 
and wine which she had prepared. And she 
clothed him in fine raiment that belonged to Esau, 
covered his smooth neck and hands with the skins 
of the goats, and sent him to his father. 

Isaac was surprised that his son had returned 
so speedily with the venison. But Jacob assured 
him that God had brought it to him. Then the 
old man asked him to come near, that he might 
feel him, and find out whether he was his very 

87 



88 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

son Esau or not. "And Jacob went near unto 
Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, 'The 
voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands 
of Esau.' " Then he bade him bring the venison, 
that he might eat it. And Jacob brought the 
venison, and the bread and wine that Kebekah 
had prepared. And Isaac ate and drank. Then 
he bade his son come near, that he might kiss Mm. 
And he came near, and Isaac kissed him. And he 
smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, 
saying: 

1 ' Lo ! the smell of my son 
Is as the smell of a field 
That the Lord hath blessed. 
God give thee of the dew of heaven, 
And of the fat things of the earth, 
Even plenty of corn and wine ! 

Let peoples serve thee, 

And nations bow down to thee; 

Be lord over thy brethren, 

And let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. 

Cursed be everyone that curseth thee, 

And blessed be everyone that blesseth thee!" 

When Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, 
and Jacob was scarcely gone from his father's 
presence, Esau came back from his hunting. He 
also had made savoury meat, and he brought it 
to his father, and said, "Let my father rise up, 
and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may 
bless me!" When Isaac heard his voice, he said, 
"Who art thou?" And Esau answered gaily, "I 
am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau." And Isaac 
trembled exceedingly, and said, "Who then is he 



THE STOLEN BLESSING 89 

that hath taken venison, and brought it to me, 
so that I have eaten of all before thou earnest, 
and have blessed him?" And with deep emotion 
he added, 'Yea, and he shall be blessed.' ' Then 
Esau cried out with an exceeding great and bit- 
ter cry, "Bless me, even me also, my father!" 
But Isaac answered, "Thy brother came with 
subtlety, and hath taken away the blessing." And 
Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Supplanter? 
for he hath supplanted me these two times. He 
took away my birthright; and behold! now he 
hath taken away my blessing." And he pleaded 
with his father, and said, "Hast thou not kept a 
blessing for me?" But Isaac answered and said, 
"Behold! I have made him thy lord, and all his 
brethren have I given to him for servants, and 
with corn and wine have I provided him : so what 
can I do now for thee, my son?" And Esau said 
to his father, "Hast thou but one blessing, my 
father? Bless me, even me also, my father!" 
And the great, strong man lifted up his voice, and 
wept. Isaac was touched to the heart by his 
piteous cries, but all he had for him was the 
mockery of a blessing: 

"Far from the fat things of the earth shall be thy 
dwelling, 
Far from the dew of heaven above. 
By thy sword shalt thou live, 
And thou shalt serve thy brother. 
Only when thou breakest loose, 
Shalt thou shake his yoke from thy neck." 

Again we cannot too strongly condemn the cruel 
deceit by which Jacob robbed his brother of the 



90 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

blessing. Yet Esau was reaping as he haa sown.; 
He had despised the birthright; and now he lost 
the blessing. Even had Jacob acted fairly, God 
must have kept it back from him. Esau found 
"no place of repentance. ' f But even repentance 
cannot undo the past. The idle schoolboy may 
become a scholar, but he cannot make good the 
opportunities he has lost. The young man who 
squanders his inheritance may win an honourable 
position in the world, but he cannot reclaim the 
wealth he has wasted. The drunkard may be 
saved, but he cannot bring back his ruined health. 
The prodigal may return to his Father, but he 
cannot wipe out the memory of the years he has 
spent among the husks. 

1 ' God pity them both ! and pity us all, 
Who fondly the dreams of youth recall. 
For of all sad words of tongue or pen, 
The saddest are these: 'It might have been.' " 

[Whtttihb 



XXIV 
A HILLSIDE DEEAM 

ESAU was so angry with Jacob that he made 
up his mind to slay him as soon as his father 
was dead. But Eebekah learned of his plan, and 
advised Jacob to flee to Haran, and remain a short 
time with Laban her brother, until Esau's fury 
should have passed away. Then she went to Isaac 
and persuaded him to fall in with her scheme. 
Esau had married two Hittite women, who were 
a sore grief to both his parents. So she said to 
Isaac, "I am weary of my life because of these 
Hittite women. If Jacob take to wife another of 
the daughters of the land, such as they are, what 
good shall my life be to me !" Then Isaac called 
Jacob to him, and blessed him, and charged him, 
saying, ' ' Thou shall not take a wife of the daugh- 
ters of Canaan. Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to 
the house of Bethuel thy mother's father, and 
take thee a wife from thence of the daughters 
of Laban thy mother's brother. And God Al- 
mighty bless thee, and give thee the blessing of 
Abraham, thyself and thy seed with thee, that 
thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, 
which God gave unto Abraham!" Then Isaac 
sent Jacob away, and he went toward Paddan- 
aram, the home of Bethuel, his mother's father. 
On the second or third night of his wanderings 
he reached the hillside of Luz, where Abraham 

91 



92 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

had built an altar. It was as dreary a spot as 
one could imagine. Great crags and boulders 
dotted the landscape. Over these led the path 
which Jacob must take, looking like a giant stair- 
case linking earth and heaven. Wearied with his 
journey, he took one of the stones of the place, 
put it under his head for a pillow, and lay down 
to sleep. I suppose life had never worn so deso- 
late an aspect for Jacob as on that night at Luz. 
Home and friends far away, God he believed as 
far away, conscience his accuser, and the future 
dark and ominous. But as he slept, he dreamed, 
and behold! the terraced steeps of the hillside 
piled themselves into a ladder reaching from earth 
to heaven. And behold! the angels of God 
ascended and descended on it. And behold! the 
Lord stood beside him, and said, "I am the Lord, 
the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of 
Isaac. The land on which thou liest, to thee will 
I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall 
be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread 
abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the 
north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy 
seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 
And behold! I am with thee, and will keep thee 
whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee 
again into this land; for I will not leave thee, 
until I have done that which I have spoken to 
thee of." 

Like Jacob, we often imagine God to be con- 
fined to sacred places like the Church and the 
family altar. Then suddenly we awake to the 
fact that He is with us everywhere. The poet 
Wordsworth, in his Reverie of Poor Susan, tells 



A HILLSIDE DREAM 93 

of a city outcast hearing the song of a thrush 
at the corner of one of London's busy thorough- 
fares. As she listens, she sees in her mind's eye 
the trees and birds of her native glen, the fields 
on which she gathered the wild-flowers, the path 
along which she tripped with her pail, and the 
cottage where she spent so many years of childish 
innocence with father and mother. "She looks, 
and her heart is in heaven." To her that 
crowded street was the very house of God. The 
vision may come to us also amid the bustle of the 
city, or on some lonely moor or desolate hillside 
like Luz, or perhaps as we wander in the fields 
as Isaac did, or under the starry skies, or beside 
the dancing waters. And from that moment we 
begin, like Wordsworth, to see God wherever we 
go, in "the light of setting suns, and the round 
ocean, and the living air, and the blue sky, and in 
the mind of man." 

No one ever had such a sense of God's near- 
ness as Jesus. To Him all Nature was the 
Father's house, with its many mansions. The 
blue sky was the roof, and the warm brown earth 
the floor. The mountains were the walls, the trees 
and valleys the pictures, and the grass and flowers 
the carpets. The rooms were thronged with min- 
istering angels, and the Father Himself walked 
freely through the midst of them, loving and 
blessing His children. If we learn of Jesus, we, 
too, shall find this world to be a temple of God, 
alive with heavenly presences. Then we shall be 
as sure as the Apostle that neither death nor life, 
nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor 
things present nor things to come, nor height nor 



94 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord. 

"The green earth sends her incense up 
From many a thousand shrine; 
From folded leaf and dewy cup 
She pours her sacred wine. 

The winds with hymns of praise are loud, 

Or low with sobs of pain, 
The thunder-organ of the cloud, 

The dropping tears of rain. 

The blue sky is the temple's arch, 

Its transept earth and air, 
The music of its starry march 

The chorus of a prayer. 

So Nature keeps the reverent frame 

With which her years began, 
And all her signs and voices shame 

The prayerless heart of man." 

[Wettteeb. 



XXV 

STEPPING OUT 

MOKNING came, and the dream faded away. 
There, indeed, rose the rugged heights of 
Luz, still towering up like a ladder reaching from 
earth to heaven. But no more vision of angels 
ascending and descending on it, no more words 
from heaven to cheer the homeless wanderer I 
The landscape was as cold and bleak as yester- 
day, the facts of life as hard and stern, the future 
as uncertain. But look more closely on the figure 
of Jacob as he girds his loins afresh for the jour- 
ney, and you will see a new light in his eye, a 
new spring in his step, a new vigour and zest in 
all his movements. 

Jacob awoke from his sleep, and said, "Surely 
the Lord is in this place, although I knew it not. 
This is none other than the house of God, and 
this is the gate of heaven/ ' Then he took the stone 
that he had put under his head, and set it up for 
a pillar, and poured oil upon it, and called the 
name of the place Bethel, "the house of God." 
And he vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be 
with me, and will keep me on this journey that 
I am going, and will give me bread to eat and 
raiment to put on, so that I come again to my 
father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be 
my God, and this stone which I have set up for 

95 



96 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that Thou 
shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto 
Thee." 

Then Jacob lifted up his feet, or "stepped out," 
a phrase that vividly suggests the eager, resolute 
march of a man with a purpose. The vision, in- 
deed, was gone. But the memory of it was 
stamped for ever upon his mind. The God of 
Bethel was with him still. And His presence shed 
light over the whole face of Nature and life. The 
roughest roads, the most wearisome toils, were 
bathed in the atmosphere of His love. And, what- 
ever the future might give or withhold, Jacob 
knew it could not separate him from the God who 
had made His face to shine upon him at Bethel. 
"And behold! I am with thee, and will keep thee 
whithersoever thou goest." This promise was 
the lodestar that guided him in all his ways. In- 
spired by its gladdening beams, he stepped out 
cheerfully, to brave the hardships of the desert, 
and to face his fortune as it came to him, as one 
who had seen the vision. 

If we once realise that this world is our Father's 
house, and that He is with us "whithersoever we 
go," we, too, shall step out on our journey with 
brave, glad hearts. We shall go to school with a 
song on our lips. We shall do our lessons thor- 
oughly. We shall fling ourselves with equal zest 
into our games. We shall be good friends to all 
our playmates. We shall be the light and life of 
our homes. And in later years, when we must 
choose a path for ourselves, we shall still step out 
with courage and cheerfulness. Whether that 
path leads through the green pastures and beside 



STEPPING OUT 97 

the still waters, or over the rough places and the 
hills of difficulty, or through the dark valleys and 
the deep waters, we shall march breast-forward, 
assured that God will bring us out to the sunny 
plains of righteousness and peace. 

"Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 
Is our destined end or way; 
But to act, that each to-morrow 
Find us farther than to-day. 

Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labour and to wait." 

LONGFEIiLOW. 



XXVI 
LOVE AT FIEST SIGHT 

WITH quickened steps Jacob went on his way 
till he reached Haran, the city of Bethuel, 
his mother's father. Some little distance from the 
city he came to a well in the field, with a great 
stone covering the well. It was still early in the 
afternoon, but three flocks of sheep were already 
lying near at hand, waiting their turn to be 
watered when the stone should be rolled away. 
Jacob entered into conversation with the shep- 
herds, and asked them whence they came, and 
whether they knew Laban the grandson of Nahor. 
The shepherds answered, "Yes, we know him." 
Then Jacob asked, "Is he well?" And the shep- 
herds answered, "He is well: and behold! Eachel 
his daughter is just coming with the sheep." 

Jacob was surprised that the shepherds should 
be sitting so long idly at the well. So he advised 
them to water their flocks at once, and lead them 
back to their pastures. But the shepherds 
answered that it was not the custom of the place 
to begin watering the sheep till all were gathered. 
While they were yet talking, Rachel arrived with 
her father's flock. As soon as he saw her, Jacob 
went himself to the well's mouth, rolled away the 
stone, and watered her flock. i l Then Jacob kissed 
Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept." It 
was love at first sight. 



LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT 89 

"He looked at her, as a lover can; 
She looked at him, as one who awakes : 
The past was a sleep, and her life began.' ' 

Love is the sweetest of earthly blessings. It is 
that which draws us closest to the heart of the 
Father. But too often it is poisoned by selfish- 
ness, and the poetry of the well passes into the 
prose of the fireside. If we are to keep the springs 
of love pure and undefiled, we must dig deep into 
the love of God, the living fountain of all love. 
We must love one another as He has loved us. 

"Life is only bright when it proceedeth 
Towards a truer, deeper Life above; 
Human Love is sweetest when it leadeth 
To a more divine and perfect Love." 

A. A. Procter. 



XXVII 

CHANGED LOOKS 

HER heart aglow with love, Rachel ran home, 
and told her father Laban of her meeting 
with Jacob at the well. Jacob soon followed her, 
and Laban ran to meet him, embraced him, and 
kissed him, and brought him to his house. For 
a full month Jacob stayed with Laban, helping* him 
with his cattle, and seeldng no other reward than 
his love for Rachel. Then Laban said to Jacob, 
"Though thou art my kinsman, oughtest thou 
therefore to serve me for nought? Tell me, what 
shall thy wages be?" And Jacob answered, "I 
will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy 
younger daughter." Laban was glad to have 
Jacob's services on these terms. "So Jacob 
served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed 
to him but a few days, for the love he bore to her." 
He felt like Ferdinand in Shakespeare's Tempest: 

''This my task 
Would be as heavy to me as odious; but 
The mistress whom I serve quickens what's dead, 
And makes my labours pleasures." 

But Jacob was now to find that in Laban he had 
met a man as keen, grasping, and crafty as him- 
self. When the time came for him to receive 
Rachel as his wife, Laban trapped him into marry- 
100 



CHANGED LOOKS 101 

ing her elder sister Leah, on the ground that it 
was not the custom of the place "to give the 
younger before the firstborn. ' ' But he was willing 
to give him Eachel also, if he would serve other 
seven years. So Jacob served other seven years 
for Eachel. But the double marriage was the 
source of endless heart-burning. Eachel was 
"fair of form and fair of face," while Leah had 
weak, pale eyes. Jacob loved Eachel, and cared 
nothing for Leah. But Leah was a happy mother 
of children, while Eachel had to wait for hers 
almost as long as her aunt Bebekah. So Eachel 
envied Leah her children, while Leah envied 
Eachel her husband's love. When at last Joseph 
was born to Eachel, he became his father's favour- 
ite son, and this added to the bickerings. So the 
household of Jacob was torn into rival camps, full 
of mutual jealousies and strifes. 

Out in the fields, too, it was ' ' diamond cut dia- 
mond." When Laban found how good a servant 
Jacob was, he proposed that he should stay on 
for wages. Jacob asked only for the black lambs 
and the "speckled and spotted" goats. But he 
contrived that the stronger animals should be his, 
and the feebler ones Laban 's. When Laban saw 
how Jacob prospered, he changed his terms; but 
Jacob once more outwitted him, so that "he in- 
creased exceedingly, and acquired large flocks of 
sheep and goats, camels and asses," with many 
maidservants and menservants. Then Laban 's 
sons began to grumble that Jacob was taking 
away all the wealth that belonged to their father. 
And Jacob saw that Laban 's own face was "not 
toward him as aforetime." So long as Jacob 



102 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

served merely for love, it was all smiles. But 
when the tables were turned, and good fortune 
passed from him to Jacob, his looks changed, and 
his face grew sour and surly." Thus the old 
friendship withered and died. 

In his fairy tale, The Snow Queen, Hans Ander- 
sen tells of a magic mirror, the broken pieces of 
which get into people's eyes, and make them see 
nothing but what is mean and ugly, so that their 
hearts become as lumps of ice, and their faces hard 
and cruel. The magic mirror is jealousy. Once 
we grow jealous of our friends, we see nothing 
but what is mean and ugly in them. All the kind- 
ness in our hearts freezes up, and our faces be- 
come stiff and harsh. How unpleasant it is when 
a spirit like this enters school or club ! How much 
more unpleasant when it enters the home! The 
only way to avoid it is to let love have free course 
in our hearts. Love keeps the heart warm, and 
the face bright. Love at school makes it like a 
sunny garden. And love at home makes it a 
heaven on earth. 

Again we must remember that God is the source 
of all love. Had Jacob been more mindful of the 
God of Bethel, he would not have allowed his home 
to become a hotbed of strife. As little would he 
have tried to outwit Laban in the fields. Instead 
of that, he would have met his wiles by openness 
and honesty. In this way he would have been no 
less successful. God would still have blessed him 
with prosperity, and He would have prospered 
Laban along with him. Thus work would have 
brought both of them satisfaction and delight. If 
we wish to be happy in our homes and in oar 



CHANGED LOOKS 108 

work, we must let the heavenly vision guide us 
in all that we do. For it is only in the paths of 
duty that the blessing of Bethel comes to us. 

"I slept and dreamt that life was beauty; 
I waked and found that life was duty. 
Dreams grow holy put in action, 
Work grows fair through starry dreaming j 
But where each flows on unmingling, 
Both are fruitless and in vain. ' ' 

A. A. Procter. 



XXVIII 
MEETING WITH ANGELS 

JACOB saw he could no longer live in peace 
with Laban. So he called his wives Leah and 
Eachel, told them how their father's face was 
altered toward him, and asked them to return 
with him to Palestine. Both of them were as 
anxious as he to depart from Haran. For they 
had long felt that they were counted as aliens in 
their father's house. It chanced that Laban had 
gone to shear his sheep. So Jacob rose up, set his 
wives and children on camels, and gathered to- 
gether his cattle, and all the other substance he 
had gotten in Paddan-aram, and stole away from 
Haran. Eachel also took with her the teraphim, 
or household gods, which belonged to her father. 
Soon they crossed the Euphrates, and set their 
faces in the direction of Mount Gilead. 

On the third day after their departure, it was 
told Laban that Jacob had fled., So he took his 
clansmen with him, pursued the fugitives for seven 
days, and overtook them in Gilead. Laban had 
intended to bring them back by force, but God 
appeared to him in a dream by night, saying, 
"Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either 
good or bad." So he complained only that Jacob 
had stolen away unawares, and given him no 
opportunity to kiss his daughters and their chil- 

104 



MEETING WITH ANGELS 105 

dren, and to speed them on their journey "with 
mirth and with songs, with timbrel and with 
harp." He charged him also with having carried 
off his gods. Jacob said he had gone thus 
secretly because he feared Laban would attempt 
to keep his daughters from him. As to the tera- 
phim, he bade him search the camp, and put to 
death the man in whose hand they should be 
found. "For Jacob knew not that Eachel had 
stolen them. ' ' Laban searched, but found not the 
teraphim; for Eachel had hidden them in the 
camel 's basket, and sat on the top of it. So 
Jacob hotly rebuked him for his suspicions, and 
reminded him of all he had done for himself and 
his flocks during the twenty years of his stay in 
Haran. To this Laban had not a word to answer. 
So he proposed that they should make a covenant 
with one another. They gathered stones, there- 
fore, and built them into a cairn. Then they sat 
down beside the cairn, and ate and drank together. 
Thus they established their covenant. And Laban 
called the name of the place Mizpah, or Watch- 
tower, for he said, ' ' The Lord watch between me 
and thee, when we are absent one from another." 
At Laban's request Jacob swore a solemn oath 
before the Lord that he would do no wrong to 
Leah and Eachel. Then he offered a sacrifice at 
Mizpah, and ate the bread of the sacrifice with his 
companions. That night Laban and he stayed 
together on the mountain. Then early in the 
morning Laban rose up, kissed his daughters and 
their children, blessed them, and returned on his 
way toward Haran. Jacob also went his way. 
But he had not gone far when a host of angels 



106 (THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

met him. On seeing them, Jacob said, "This is 
God's camp." So he called the name of the place 
jMahanaim, "Two camps." For there God's 
camp had joined itself to his. 

We may no longer meet with white-robed com- 
panies of angels crossing our path. But if our 
eyes are opened like those of the young man of 
Dothan, we shall see angelic figures encompassing 
us on every side. To the Psalmist, the clouds 
and the tempest, the thunder and the lightning, 
the fire and the heat, were God's angels. So also 
the modern poet, "William Blake, could say: 
"When the sun rises, I see an innumerable com- 
pany of the heavenly host, crying, 'Holy, holy, 
holy is the Lord God Almighty V " But not only 
is the sky about us teeming with angelic presences. 
We may find them in our homes, in our friend- 
ships, even in "the trivial round, the common 
task." A little child is an angel from heaven sent 
to bless the home. The nurse in the hospital is a 
ministering angel. Every good man or woman 
is an angel. As Whittier sings, "I saw the angel 
where they saw a man." In another of his poems 
he speaks of the two angels, Pity and Love, who 
drop "tears like rain" and "smiles like sun- 
shine" on saddened hearts. Adelaide Proctor has 
her angels of Joy and of Goodness, of Faith and 
of Prayer, of Pain and of Death. The angel of 
Joy bears "radiant gifts" of love on his "glitter- 
ing rainbow wings"; the angel of Goodness brings 
food, rest and comfort to the poor; the angels of 
Faith and Prayer lift their sorrows to the Father's 
heart ; and even the angels of Pain and Death come 
with healing in their wings "to help and to save." 



MEETING WITH ANGELS 107 

Angels ministered to Jesus after He was tempted, 
and strengthened Him during His agony in the 
Garden. Lazarus was carried by angels into 
Abraham's bosom. And still "the angel of the 
Lord encampsth round about them that fear Him, 
and delivereth them. ,, The postscript of the last 
letter which General Gordon wrote from Khar- 
toum ends with the words, "The hosts are with 
me — Mahanaim." Though surrounded by en- 
emies, and with no hope of relief, he yet felt that 
the angels of God were about him, and that no 
real harm could overtake him. And soon after- 
wards, when he fell before the sword of the Mahdi, 
the angels carried him, as they had carried Laz- 
arus, to the heavenly home. 



XXIX 
WRESTLING WITH GOD 

JACOB was much cheered by his meeting with 
the angels. And certainly he needed all the 
cheering he conld find. A few miles south of him, 
beyond the brawling torrent of the Jabbok, his 
brother Esau was encamped. He had just sent 
messengers to tell him of his coming, and they 
had returned, saying, "We went to thy brother 
Esau, and behold! he cometh to meet thee, and 
four hundred men with him." At this news 
Jacob was greatly alarmed and distressed. So 
he flung himself on his knees, and prayed to the 
God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac to deliver 
him from the hand of Esau, for he feared he might 
come and smite both him and his household, "the 
mother with the children." But while he thus 
cast himself on God's protection, he did not for- 
get his old cunning. So he divided his camp into 
two, saying, "If Esau come to the one camp, and 
smite it, the camp which is left shall escape.' ' 
Next morning he set aside a portion of his sheep 
and cattle as a gift for Esau, sending them for- 
ward drove by drove, with a clear space between 
each. And he commanded the leaders of the 
various droves, as they met Esau, to say to him, 
"This belongeth to thy servant Jacob; it is a 
gift he hath sent to my lord Esau: and behold! 
108 



WRESTLING WITH GOD 109 

he himself is just behind us. ' ' In this way he 
hoped little by little to break down Esau's anger, 
so that he might see his face in peace. 

All day the strange procession went on crossing 
the Jabbok. When night fell, there remained only 
Jacob, his wives, and his children. So he sent 
them over the stream. "And Jacob was left 
alone." As he prepared to follow, an unknown 
Wrestler stepped out from the darkness, and 
grappled with him. Hour after hour they fought, 
neither yielding, neither winning, till the day was 
about to break. Then the Wrestler touched the 
socket of Jacob's thigh, and put it out of joint. 
And He said to him, "Let me go now, for dawn 
has come!" But Jacob saw by this time that he 
Was contending with no human foe, and he said, 
"I will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me." 
Then the Wrestler asked him, "What is thy 
name?" And he answered, "Jacob." And He 
said, "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, 
the Supplanter, but Israel, the Prince of God : for 
thou has striven with God, as aforetime thou didst 
strive with men, and thou has overcome." Then 
Jacdb said to Him, "Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy 
name!" The Wrestler rebuked him for making 
such a request. "Why is it that thou dost ask 
after my name ? ' ' But He blessed him there. And 
Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, "the 
face of God"; for he said, "I have seen God face 
to face, and my life is preserved." 

I think we can dimly understand the meaning 
of this weird struggle. Jacob was returning to 
claim his inheritance in Palestine. But he was 
still the same old Jacob. It is true, he had seen 



110 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

the vision of God at Bethel. He had learned also 
to pray in times of difficulty and danger. Yet 
he trusted far more in his own crafty schemes 
than in God's guidance. He was preparing now 
to leap across the Jabbok, and win his way to 
his brother's heart by stealth. But God could not 
allow a trickster like Jacob to inherit the prom- 
ised land. So He checked him in the middle of 
his headstrong career, brought him quivering in 
pain to the ground, and showed him how weak 
and helpless he was. 
An old poet says : 

"It is not but the tempest that doth show 

The seaman 's cunning ; but the field that tries 
The captain's courage; and we come to know 
Best what men are in their worst jeopardies.' 

It was in this worst jeopardy of his that 
Jacob's true character came to light. All these 
years there had been two natures in him strug- 
gling for the mastery: the mean and treacherous 
Jacob and the heroic, aspiring Israel. Till now 
the Israel had lain crushed and beaten. But at 
Peniel the Jacob died, and the Israel sprang into 
victorious life. In his weakness and pain he 
clung to the God who had put His hand on him, 
and would not let Him go until He blessed him. 
Thus he became strong enough to overcome God, 
and pure enough to see His face and live. 

Often God checks us as he checked Jacob. We 
are bent on some foolish enterprise, or we are 
trying to succeed by trickery and deceit. And 
He pulls us up at the water's edge. Perhaps He 
blocks the way so completely that we cannot go 



WRESTLING WITH GOD 111 

on. Perhaps He sends us sickness and sorrow. 
When we are thus brought low, we are inclined 
to chafe and complain. But God checks us only 
to draw out our full strength. Like a good doc- 
tor, He hurts only to heal. He frees us from self- 
ishness, and makes us pure and good. 

* 'Then, welcome each rebuff 
That turns earth's smoothness rough, 

Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go! 
Be our joys three-parts pain! 
Strive, and hold cheap the pain ; 
Learn, nor account the pang • dare, never grudge the 
throe!" 

Robebt Browning. 



XXX 
BACK TO BETHEL 

THE sun rose as Jacob passed over Peniel, and 
went limping on his thigh to join his company. 
No sooner had he reached them than "he lifted 
up his eyes, and looked, and behold! Esau came, 
and four hundred men with him. ' ' But there was 
no longer any selfish regard for his own safety. 
Putting his household behind him, with Eachel and 
Joseph in the rear, Jacob went forward, and 
bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he 
came near to his brother. Esau met his advance 
with the utmost chivalry. The last time he set 
eyes on Jacob, he had vowed to slay him. But 
now all his anger was gone, and his generous heart 
was big with brotherly love. "Esau ran to meet 
him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and 
kissed him: and they wept." With the same gra- 
cious courtesy he welcomed the women and chil- 
dren, inviting them all to stay with him in Seir, 
and offering himself as an escort. Nor would he 
take any of Jacob's gifts until he entreated him. 
"If now I have found grace in thy sight, I pray 
thee, accept this gift from my hand, forasmuch as 
I have seen thy face as one seeth the face of G-od. " 
Thus Jacob learned that, when the heart is right 
with God, it is right also with men. 

Esau returned that day to Seir, but Jacob went 
112 



BACK TO BETHEL 113 

no further than Succoth, a mile or two west of 
Peniel. There he built him a house, and made 
huts for his cattle. But the lure of Palestine was 
on him. So he crossed the Jordan, and made his 
way to Shechem, where his grandfather Abraham 
had once encamped. It was one of the sweetest 
spots in Palestine, a valley watered by springs 
in every direction, rich with corn and grass, and 
gay with vineyards and gardens. But the people 
of Shechem were heathen, and Jacob's family be- 
gan to learn their ways. So Jacob heard a voice 
from heaven calling him to go back to Bethel, and 
there consecrate himself and them afresh to the 
God who had blessed them so abundantly, even 
when they had forgotten Him times without num- 
ber. 

We can imagine the feelings with which Jacob 
approached Bethel. Twenty years ago he had 
toiled along that weary road, a lonely outcast, 
burdened with a load of shameful memories. But 
as he slept, Gfod had opened the gates of heaven, 
and spoken to him words of wonderful comfort. 
Ever since then He had been faithful to His prom- 
ise. He had made everything to prosper under 
his hands, He had given him the heart of the 
woman he loved, He had blessed him with home 
and children, He had kept him in all his ways, 
and now He had brought him back to his father's 
house in peace. But how unfaithful to the cov- 
enant he had been! As he retraced his steps 
that day, he would recall with bitter pain "the 
broken vow, the frequent fall," the sordid story 
of his dealings with Laban, the sins of his children, 
the idolatry of his beloved Rachel. When he was 



114 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

leaving Shechem, lie bade his household put away 
the strange gods that were among them, purify 
themselves, and change their garments, and ac- 
company him to Bethel. And they gave him their 
idols and charms, and he buried them under an 
oak near Shechem. And they purified themselves, 
and changed their garments, and went with him. 
So when they reached Bethel, he built an altar, 
and renewed his vows to the God who had 
answered him in the day of his distress, and had 
been w 7 ith him on the way which he went. And 
the God of Bethel blessed him and his family, and 
s«ent them forth rejoicing, to live a truer and 
nobler life. 

It is with the same emotion that we revisit the 
Bethels where God has come near to us, the old 
home where our parents taught us to lisp His 
name in prayer, and the mountain, moor, or field 
where His light first shone upon our path. As 
we gaze upon these sacred scenes, we think of 
God's unceasing goodness, and of our own faults 
and failings. And we lift up our hearts to Him, 
committing our lives anew to His keeping, and 
asking for strength to be more worthy of His 
goodness. But the Bethel to which we return most 
often is the Church where we worship. How many 
hallowed memories cluster round its walls ! There 
our fathers met with God. There many of them 
rest from their labours. There we were brought 
to Him in baptism. There we have found peace, 
and joy, and strength, and hope. There we have 
buried our idols, and there paid our vows to the 
Lord our God. There He has blessed us, and 
there He will bless us to the end. For God will 



BACK TO BETHEL 115 

not forsake those who love His name and His 
house. 

"0 God of Bethel! by whose hand 

Thy people still are fed; 
Who through this weary pilgrimage 
Hast all our fathers led: 

Our vows, our prayers, we now present 

Before Thy throne of grace; 
God of our fathers! be the God 

Of their succeeding race. 

Through each perplexing path of life 

Our wandering footsteps guide; 
Give us each day our daily bread, 

And raiment fit provide. 

O spread Thy covering wings around, 

Till ail our wanderings cease, 
And at our Father's loved abode 

Our souls arrive in peace. 

Such blessings from Thy gracious hand 

Our humble prayers implore; 
And Thou shalt be our chosen God, 
And portion evermore. " 



XXXI 

THE GENTLEMAN'S COAT 

THE blessing at Bethel did not shield Jacob 
from sorrow. His mother Eebekah had died 
some time before, and now her old nurse Deborah 
passed away, and was buried under the Oak of 
Weeping at Bethel. Soon a worse grief befell 
him. As they journeyed from Bethel to Ephrath, 
his wife Eachel died when a second son was born 
to her. With her last breath she called the child 
Benoni, "the son of my sorrow.' ' Though his 
own heart was breaking, Jacob changed the name 
to Benjamin, "the son of the right hand"; that 
is, the strong, helpful boy. Then he buried Rachel 
on the spot where she died, and set up a pillar on 
the grave, to keep her in lasting remembrance. 

Ere long Isaac died at Hebron, and Jacob and 
Esau buried him beside Eebekah in the cave of 
Machpelah. Jacob's affections were now more 
than ever twined round Joseph, the elder son of 
Eachel. He was a boy well worthy of his love. 
He inherited in full measure his own best gifts; 
his keen intellect, his eagerness of spirit, and his 
strength of will and purpose. With these qual- 
ities he combined his mother's beauty and grace 
of person, her bright, winning disposition, and her 
charming manners. But what raised him most 
highly above his brothers was his purity of heart. 

116 



THE GENTLEMAN'S COAT 117 

They were coarse, rough men, like most of the 
shepherds with whom they mingled. But from 
his earliest years he was the soul of purity. As 
the needle to the magnet, he turned instinctively 
to God and goodness. 

It was only natural that Jacob should have 
" loved Joseph more than all his children." He 
did wrong, however, in showing his favouritism 
so plainly. He made him, we read, "a long robe 
with sleeves. " This was the gentleman's dress 
of the time, corresponding to our silk hat and 
frock coat. Joseph's brothers had to wear short 
plain tunics which would not spoil with work. In 
giving him the long sleeved robe, Jacob meant to 
single him out as "the young gentleman of the 
family," who should pass his days untouched by 
the dust of toil and the struggles of common life. 

Though it was intended as kindness, Jacob was 
not merely sowing the seeds of deadly hatred and 
strife in the home, but he was taking the surest 
means of ruining Joseph's own character. We 
can already trace the germs of priggishness work- 
ing in the boy. He became too conscious of his 
superior powers. He began also to tell tales of 
his brothers' evil doings. Had he been left to 
himself, he might have grown up a dandy, unfit 
for work, and eaten up by a false sense of his 
own importance. 

We see examples of this all about us. Fathers 
who have won their way to success by hard toil 
and self-denial bring up their children in idleness. 
Boys try to ape the young gentleman by their fine 
clothes and foppish ways. But nothing can be 
more fatal. It is not idleness and fine clothes 



118 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

that make the gentleman, but " clean hands and 
a pure heart.' ' There never was a truer gentle- 
man than Abraham Lincoln. His figure and dress 
were uncouth; but his heart was a very temple 
of honour and courtesy. The Christian gentle- 
man, young or old, has his affections set on things 
above. But he does not air his superiority over 
others. Nor is he afraid to soil his fingers by 
honest work. Tie is neither a prig nor a coxcomb. 
Like Tom Brown at school, he speaks up, and 
strikes out if necessary, "for whatever is true, 
and manly, and lovely, and of good report"; but 
he does not look down on his fellows in stupid 
conceit of himself and his virtues. Nor does he 
shirk his tasks. He tries "to do his duty, and 
to help others to do theirs." To the best of his 
ability, he lives in the spirit of Wordsworth's 
noble sonnet to Milton : 

"Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart; 
Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea. 
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, 
So didst thou travel on life's common way, 
In cheerful godliness ; and yet thy heart 
The lowliest duties on herself did lay." 



XXXII 
A BOY'S DKEAMS 

JOSEPH was saved from the worst effects of 
his father's indulgence by his own ambition. 
As a young lad, he began to have his dreams of 
coming glory. One night he dreamed that he and 
his brothers were binding sheaves in the field, and 
behold! his sheaf arose, and stood upright, while 
his brothers ' sheaves came round about, and made 
obeisance to his sheaf. Soon his dreams took a 
higher flight. He dreamed that he was one of 
the stars of heaven, and behold ! the sun and moon 
and the eleven other stars made obeisance to him. 

The meaning of the dreams was clear, and 
Joseph's father and brothers understood it at 
once. He was to rise above them all! It was, 
no doubt, foolish of Joseph to tell them of his 
dreams. But the youth who " hitches his wagon 
to a star" is on the way to success. He may not 
reach the stars, but he will certainly shoot far 
higher than he who aims at nothing beyond the 
ground. 

Like Joseph, every true boy has his dreams. 
Very early in life he begins to take an interest 
in farming, or engines, or books, or paintings. 
And he is ambitious for success. This is right 
and proper. God has given us our talents, and He 
wishes us to make the best possible use of them. 

119 



120 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

Yet our ambitions should reach beyond mere per- 
sonal success. We should have a star to guide 
us. This star may be love of parents and friends, 
love of country, love of man. The boy whose 
parents have done much for him should seek to 
make their old age peaceful and happy. He who 
has enjoyed the love of friends should remember 
them in the day of his prosperity. And all of us 
should be loyal to the claims of country and 
humanity. You remember Burns ' fine ambition : 

"I mind it weel in early date, 
When I was beardless, young, and blate, 

An' first could thresh the barn, 
E'en then a wish (I mind its pow'r), 
A wish that to my latest hour 

Shall strongly heave my breast, 
That I for poor auld Scotland's sake 
Some usefu' plan or book could make, 

Or sing a sang at least." 

It was the same ambition that stirred the heart 
of the Italian patriots, Mazzini and Garibaldi, 
when they dreamed day and night of freeing their 
country from the Austrians, of Lincoln, when he 
determined to strike the deathblow at slavery, and 
of Gladstone, when he girded on his armour "to 
force good causes forward.' ' We may not be able 
to sing, or fight, or govern, as they did. But if 
our heart be set on doing good to others, we shall 
find opportunities that now we may not even con- 
ceive of. Only we must have a fixed star, round 
which all our other ambitions turn. This fixed 
star is Christ, the centre of light and life. 



A BOY'S DREAMS 121 

"What can a little chap do 
For his country and for you? 
What can a little chap do? 

He can fight like a Knight 
For the Truth and the Right- 
That 's one good thing he can do. 

He can shun all that's mean, 
He can keep himself clean, 
Both without and within — 

That's another good thing he can do. 

His soul he can brace 
Against everything base, 
And the trace will he seen 
All his life in his face — 

That's a very fine thing he can do. 

He can look to the Light 
He can keep his thought white, 
He can fight the great fight, 
He can do with his might 
What is good in God's sight — 

Those are excellent things he can do. 

Though his years be but few, 
He can march in the queue 
Of the Good and the Great, 
Who battled with fate 
And won through — 

That's a wonderful thing he can do. 

And — in each little thing 
He can follow The King. 
Yes — in each smallest thing 
He can follow The King — 

He can follow The Christ, The King. 

John Oxenham. 



XXXIII 
THE BLACK HOLE 

JOSEPH had by this time reached the age of 
seventeen. All was bright and rosy about 
him, when suddenly he was plunged into the deep- 
est gloom. His brothers had gone to feed their 
flocks in the old pastures near Shechem. They 
had been away for several weeks, and their father 
was growing anxious. So he called Joseph, and 
asked him to go to Shechem, and find out if they 
and the flocks were well. Gaily the young lad set 
out on his fifty miles ' journey from Hebron. Buf 
when he reached Shechem, he could discover no 
trace of his brothers. As he wandered in the 
fields, he met a man who told him they had gone 
fifteen miles farther north to Dothan, where the 
pastures were fresher. With a light heart he fol- 
lowed them up to Dothan, and ran eagerly forward 
to meet them. But when his brothers caught sight 
of him, they scowled, and said, "Behold! this 
dreamer cometh." And they conspired together 
to slay him, and cast his dead body into one of the 
pits in the place, telling his father that a wild 
beast had devoured him. They would then see 
what would become of his dreams ! 

As the base men planned their deed of blood, 
Reuben, the eldest of the family, spoke out. He 
felt sorry for Joseph. He felt still more sorry 

122 



THE BLACK HOLE 123 

for his father. He could not bear to bring this 
new grief upon him. So he proposed that they 
should not slay their brother, but cast him alive 
into the pit. Beuben intended later in the day to 
draw him out of the pit, and restore him to his 
father. But the rest of them meant to leave him 
alone to die. So when Joseph drew near, they 
fell upon him, tore the fine robe from his back, 
and cast him into the pit. Then they sat down 
to eat the bread he had brought them. 

Joseph's life was saved. But it was little more 
than saved. The pit was a dark tank or cistern, 
cut in the ground, and used for storing water 
during the dry season. In shape it was like the 
bottle-dungeons into which prisoners used to be 
thrown. It was quite narrow at the neck, but 
broader near the bottom. There was no loop- 
hole anywhere. Thus a more desperate plight 
than Joseph's it would be hard to imagine. If he 
dashed against the walls of the pit, he would de- 
stroy himself, not them. Appeal to his brothers 
was equally in vain. Long afterwards they re- 
membered how he had pleaded with them to spare 
him, and they would not hear. Only one little 
glint of light came to brighten the gloom. 
Through the open mouth of the pit he could still 
see the blue of heaven, and toward evening per- 
haps one or two of the stars of which he had 
dreamed. And he would feel in some sense that 

''Darkness in the pathway of man's life 
Is but the shadow of God's providence, 
By the great Sun of Wisdom cast thereon ; 
And what is dark below is light in heaven." 



124. THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

Like Joseph, we sometimes find ourselves in 
holes from which there seems to be no escape. 
Yet there is always a gleam of light somewhere: 
the light of conscience within, the light of God's 
love overhead, the light of Christ's presence lead- 
ing the way. Lincoln had his plans time and again 
blocked by his father's weakness, his partner's 
folly, a*rid his enemies' determined opposition. 
But he kept true to the call of Duty, and so tri- 
umped over* every difficulty. Garfield was kept 
by malarial fever from following out his early 
ambition of going to sea. But he was guided 
by his mother to the light of God in books, and 
thus led to embark on his great career as soldier 
and statesman. David Livingstone was prevented 
by the Opium War from giving* his life to China 
as he intended. When at last he found his sphere 
in Africa, his station was burned, and he was 
driven into the unexplored north. On his great 
journeys he was often brought to the limit of his 
resources. But he still kept his eyes open to the 
light. ' ' Shall I tell you, " he* said to the* students of 
Glasgow University, "what sustained me amidst 
the toil and hardship and loneliness of my exiled 
life? It was the promise, I am iMth ydu always." 
However dark his path, Jesus was just in front. 
And pressing after Him, he* was guided into God's 
clear light. So, if we follow the gleam, we shall 
be led in the way of light. 



"0 young Mariner, 
Down to the haven, 
Call your companions, 
Launch your vessel, 



THE BLACK HOLE 1%$ 

And crowd your canvas, 
And, ere it vanishes 
Over the margin, 
After it, follow it, 
Follow the Gleam." 

Tennyson. 



XXXIV 

A FAITHFUL SERVANT 

"P)ELIVERANCE came to Joseph from an un- 
*~* expected quarter. A caravan of Ishmaelite 
traders, on their way from Grilead to Egypt, hap- 
pened to be passing through Dothan. Their 
camels were laden with spices of various kinds, 
but they were not unwilling to add a slave-boy to 
their other goods. So at Judah's suggestion 
Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty 
pieces of silver. His brothers then killed a young 
goat, dipped his coat in the blood, took it home to 
their father, and said. "This have we found: see 
now whether it be thy son's coat or not." And 
Jacob recognized it, and said, "It is my son's 
coat; a wild beast hath devoured him; Joseph is 
without doubt torn in pieces." And he rent his 
clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned 
for Joseph many days. And when his other sons 
rose up to comfort him, he refused to be com- 
forted, saying, "I will go down to my son mourn- 
ing even to the grave." 

In the meantime Joseph had been carried to 
Egypt, and put up in the market, to be sold to the 
highest bidder. Soon he was bought by Potiphar, 
the captain of Pharaoh's body-guard, and sent to 
his house to work. It must have been humiliating 

126 



A FAITHFUL SERVANT 127 

for a kingly spirit like Joseph to be handled, dis- 
cussed, and bargained for, like a brute beast, and 
finally to be led off at his master's beck and call, 
to do the lowliest, most degrading tasks. I fear, 
if we had been in his position, most of us would 
have rebelled against both God and Potiphar. 
But Joseph had by this time learned to trace 
God's finger in all that befell him. So he set him- 
self, with a stout, brave heart, to face his new lot, 
and to perform its duties faithfully. Often it 
must have been irksome and painful. His arms, 
used to so very different treatment, must have 
ached under their heavy load. His heart, too, 
must have been sore within him. Yet he toiled 
on manfully, seeking to do all as in God's sight, 
and for His glory. 

Once more things began to prosper in his hand. 
Cleanliness and order became the rule of the 
house. The furniture took on a new lustre. The 
dishes shone as they had never shone before. 
Work went smoothly and sweetly. Thus Joseph's 
heart began to expand again. His genial charm 
found a new outlet. His presence was like a ray 
of sunshine in the home. The result was inevit- 
able. Light cannot be long hid under a bushel. 
Potiphar saw how all things prospered with Jos- 
eph. He felt, too, the grace of his character, and 
his influence over other men. So he promoted 
him step by step, until he made him steward of his 
whole estate. His faith in Joseph was complete. 
"He left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he 
troubled about nothing save the bread which he 
ate." His faith was fully justified. Never had 
he known a more capable, honest, and successful 



128 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

steward than Joseph. From the moment when he 
placed him over his estate, "the Lord blessed the 
Egyptian for Joseph's sake, and the blessing of 
the Lord rested on all that he had, in the honse 
and in the field." 

Boys and young men are often so carried away 
by their ambition as to be "too big for their 
jobs." They feel themselves born to rule, so they 
will not serve. But the only way to rule is "to 
bear the yoke in one 's youth. ' ' The young man of 
gif ts must stoop to.conquer, serve to command. As 
Lincoln said, "The true rule of life is to do one's 
level best, leaving the rest to take care of itself. 
The best preparation for the duties of to-morrow 
is the faithful performance of the duties of to- 
day." He was himself a perfect example of what 
he taught. As ploughman, rail-splitter, and sur- 
veyor, no less than President, his motto was 
Thorough. So he mounted the ladder, rung by 
rung, "from Log Cabin to White House." 

We cannot have this lesson too strongly im- 
pressed on us. Ambition is good. Without am- 
bition we shall make little of our lives. But am- 
bition should never lift us above the present duty. 
Eather, it should spur us on to do our best in it. 
While we are still at school, then, let us work with 
all our heart. For what we learn at school is the 
foundation of all else. And when we pass out to 
the farm or office, shop or study, let us carry the 
shining principle with us : "Whatsoever thy hand 
findeth to do, do it with thy might." If we work 
in this spirit, our work will bring us increasing 
joy and success. It will satisfy our heart. It will 
strengthen our powers. It will lead us in the 



A FAITHFUL SERVANT 129 

way of advancement. It will give us influence 
over others. And it will command the approval 
of God. "Well done, good and faithful servant! 
Thou has been faithful in a few things: I will 
make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou 
into the joy of thy Lord." 



XXXV 

THE JUST MAN IN JAIL 

JOSEPH had now to face the sharpest of all 
his trials. His master's wife was strongly 
drawn to him, and tried to win his love. But his 
high sense of honour made him proof against the 
temptation. In her anger she had him flung into 
jail. And there he languished for several years. 
The jail into which Joseph was thrown was very 
different from ours. It was a vile dungeon, dark 
and damp, where crimnials of every kind were 
herded together in abject misery, their hands 
bound in fetters, and their feet held fast in the 
stocks. One would not have wondered had 
Joseph's faith at last yielded to the strain. But 
it only grew stronger as the iron cut into his flesh. 
He was marvellously buoyed up by the thought 
that he was innocent. He had the glad feeling, 
too, that God was with him in the prison, as He 
had been with him in the pit. Thus his face wore 
its old sunny look. And in due time his star be- 
gan to rise again. As the keeper of the prison 
went his daily rounds, he could not but notice the 
young Hebrew's fresh and honest countenance. 
The more he saw of him, the better he liked him. 
So he began to show him favour. He struck off his 
fetters, and allowed him to wander freely through 
the prison. Then he gave him the oversight of 

130 



A JUST MAN IN JAIL 131 

the prisoners. Finally he committed the whole 
place to his charge, looking to nothing that was* 
under his hand, * ' because the Lord was with him, 
and made that which he did to prosper." 

Many a man would have used his freedom for 
his own ends. But Joseph's first concern was for 
others. Even while his feet were still "hurt with 
fetters," he had a smile and a kind word for 
those who lay suffering near him. Now that he 
was given the oversight of all the prisoners, he 
had many more chances of doing them good. 
There might be those among them who were inno- 
cent as he was. And he could lead them, as he 
had been led, to the Source of all comfort. There 
would, no doubt, also be hardened criminals who 
never in their lives had met with a friendly greet- 
ing. For them, too, he would have his word of 
hope and cheer. Or if their wounds were sore, he 
would tend and soothe them. For he had already 
learned the secret of true happiness, to which 
John Wesley gave expression: 



"Do all the good you can, 
By all the means you can, 
In all the ways you can, 
In all the places yon can, 
At all the times you can, 
To all the people you can, 
As long as ever yon can.'* 

Joseph is thus the first of many prisoners for 
conscience' sake who have turned their dungeon 
into a house of Grod. Paul and Barnabas prayed 
and sang praises to God while their feet were in 



132 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

the stocks. From his various prisons the Apostle 
sent out those letters which did so much to 
strengthen and build up the early Christian 
Churches. The house where he was shut up in 
Borne he found to be the very ante-room of 
heaven. So also Samuel Eutherford headed his 
letters in prison: "From Christ's Palace in Aber- 
deen/ ? And he wrote to his friends: "Do you 
know I thought of Jesus till every stone in the 
wall of my cell glowed like a ruby. ' ' 

We have no longer to surfer as they did. We 
have perfect freedom of faith and speech. We 
can at all times defend ourselves against injus- 
tice. So it is only by accident that the innocent 
man is put in jail. Yet we may have to bear other 
forms of persecution, such as jests and jeers, con- 
tempt and hatred, dogged opposition, and even 
direct personal attacks. Every man who seeks 
to "force good causes forward' ' is exposed to 
treatment of this kind. To many sensitive minds 
it is even more irritating than imprisonment. But 
if God be with us, we shall keep our head high, 
and our heart calm and brave, through all of it. 
And we shall find like the brave old cavalier that 

" Stone walls do not a prison make, 

Nor iron bars a cage, 
Minds innocent and qniet take 
That for an heritage. 

If I have freedom in my love, 

And in my soul am free, 
Angels alone, that soar above, 

Enjoy such liberty." 

Richard Lovelace. 



XXXVI 
DEEAMS IN THE DUNGEON 

PEISON has been the scene of many dazzling 
dreams. In prison St. Paul was caught up to 
the heavens, and saw a vision of things ' ' which it 
is not possible for a man to utter." From his 
prison in the island of Patmos John saw his great 
Eevelation of things to come. In Bedford jail 
John Bunyan dreamed his immortal dream, The 
Pilgrim's Progress. And in the fortress of Sa- 
vona, midway between sea and sky, those two 
"symbols of the infinite," Mazzini dreamed of 
free united Young Italy. 

We do not read of any dreams that Joseph had 
in the dungeon. But he acted as an interpreter of 
dreams to others. Some time after he had been 
given charge of the prisoners, there were handed 
over to him Pharaoh's chief butler and baker. 
They had offended their lord in some way, and 
were cast like Joseph into the prison. One morn- 
ing he found them looking gloomy and depressed. 
They had each dreamed a dream, but could find 
no one to explain the meaning of it. So Joseph 
asked them to tell him the dreams, for "interpre- 
tations belong to God," and he was God's servant. 

Thereupon the chief butler told him how he had 
seen in his dreams a vine budding and blossoming, 
then putting forth clusters of ripening grapes, 

133 



134 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

which he took, and pressed into Pharaoh's cup, 
and gave Pharaoh to drink. And Joseph said to 
him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three 
branches are three days; so within three days 
Pharaoh will lift up thine head, and restore thee 
to thine office: and thou shalt give Pharaoh's cup 
into his hand, after the former manner when thou 
wast his butler. ' ' Then in a few wistful words he 
pleaded with the butler to remember him in the 
hour of his own freedom, to make mention of him 
to Pharaoh, and so get him out of that place. 
"For," he said, "I was cruelly stolen away from 
the land of the Hebrews ; and here too I have done 
nothing for which they should have put me into 
this hole." 

Encouraged by the interpretation Joseph had 
given of his friend's dream, the chief baker pro- 
ceeded to tell his. As he dreamed, behold! there 
were three baskets of white bread on his head; 
and in the uppermost basket were '"'all manner of 
bakemeats for Pharaoh." But the birds came 
down, and ate of the bakemeats in the basket. And 
Joseph answered and said, "This is the interpre- 
tation of it : the three baskets are three days ; so in 
three days Pharaoh will lift up thine head, but 
he will then hang thee on a tree; and the birds 
will eat thy flesh from ofT thee." 

It was as Joseph had said. The third day after 
that was Pharaoh's birthday, and Pharaoh made 
a great feast, to which he invited all his servants. 
Among the others he brought the chief butler and 
baker from prison to share in the feast. "And he 
restored the chief butler unto his butler ship 
again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand; 



DREAMS IN THE DUNGEON 135 

but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had in- 
terpreted to them." And then pathetically the 
writer adds, "Yet did not the chief butler remem- 
ber Joseph, but forgot him." 

Ingratitude is one of the commonest of faults, 
and it is one of the cruelest. It pains the heart 
as few other sins do. And it strikes back upon the 
ungrateful heart itself, and makes it hard and 
cold, incapable of generous feeling, and closed 
against those deeds of kindness which sweeten 
life. 

"Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 

Thou are not so unkind 

As man's ingratitude; 

Thy tooth is not so keen, 

Because thou are not seen, 

Although thy breath be rude. 

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, 
Thou dost not bite so nigh 
As benefits forgot: 
Though thou the waters warp, 
Thy sting is not so sharp 
As friend remember 'd not." 

Shakespbaebl 



xxxvn 

FEOM PRISON TO PALACE 

FOB, two more years Joseph lingered on in 
prison. These years must have been a time 
of bitter trial for him. Hope deferred made his 
heart sick. The ingratitude of the butler, too, 
drove the iron more deeply into his soul. Yet we 
can see how needful the delay was. Had Joseph 
been set at liberty when he wished, he would only 
have returned to menial service in some Egyp- 
tian house. But God meant to make him ruler of 
the land. And in the prison, as formerly in 
Potiphar's kitchen, He was quietly training him 
for that end. Little by little every touch of the 
"spoiled child' ' dropped from him. The iron 
entered his blood as well as his soul. He became 
strong, self-reliant, wise, patient, and sympa- 
thetic with others in their trouble. When at last 
he had proved his metal, God opened the way for 
his advancement both quickly and easily. 

Pharaoh dreamed, and behold ! he stood beside 
the river Nile. And behold! there came out of 
the river seven cattle, fat and beautiful, that fed 
in the reed grass by the water's edge. And be- 
hold! there came up after them seven other cat- 
tle, lean and ugly, that stood near them on the 
brink of the river. And behold! the lean, ugly 
cattle ate up the fat, beautiful ones. A second 

136 



FROM PRISON TO PALACE 137 

time, Pharaoh dreamed, and behold! seven ears 
of corn, rich and full, came np on one stalk. And 
behold! seven other ears, thin and blasted with 
the east wind, sprang np after them. And be- 
hold! the thin ears swallowed up the rich and 
full ones. 

When Pharaoh awoke in the morning, his spirit 
was troubled because of the dreams. So he sum- 
moned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. 
But there was no one among them that could in- 
terpret the dream. Then the conscience of the 
chief butler smote him, and he told Pharaoh of 
the young Hebrew slave who had interpreted his 
dreams in the prison. So Pharaoh sent for 
Joseph. And Joseph shaved himself, and changed 
his clothes, and went to Pharaoh. And Pharoah 
told him his dreams. And Joseph said to Phar- 
aoh: "The dreams are one; and what God is 
about to do He hath revealed to Pharaoh. The 
seven good cattle and the seven good ears are 
seven years of plenty; and the seven lean cattle 
and the seven empty ears are seven years of fam- 
ine. Behold ! there are about to come seven years 
of great plenty over all the land of Egypt; but 
there shall rise up after them seven years of 
famine. And the famine shall consume the land, 
and the time of plenty shall be no more remem- 
bered in the land because of the famine that 
cometh after, for it shall be very severe. And the 
reason why the dream was doubled to Pharaoh is 
that the thing is made sure by God, and that He 
will shortly bring it to pass." 

When Joseph had interpreted the dreams, he 
urged Pharaoh to look out for a man of wisdom 



138 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

and intelligence to be governor of the land, and to 
appoint under him officers who should gather up 
the fifth part of the crops during the seven plen- 
teous years, and store it as a provision against the 
seven years of famine. The advice was welcome 
to Pharaoh. And there was no one whom he 
found more competent to be governor than Joseph 
himself, "a man, in whom the spirit of God was." 
So he said to Joseph, "Seeing that God hath 
shown thee all this, there is none so intelligent 
and wise as thou art ; therefore thou shalt be over 
my house, and to thy word shall all my people 
be obedient: only in respect of the throne will I 
be greater than thou." Then he took off his sig- 
net ring, and placed it on Joseph's hand. And 
he arrayed him in vestments of fine linen, and 
put a gold chain about his neck. And he made 
him ride in the second chariot of the land, and 
caused the fore-runners to cry, "Bow the knee!" 
And he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter 
of Potiphera, priest of On, the most influential 
man in Egypt next to Pharaoh. 

It was a hard test for a young man of thirty 
to be thus promoted at a bound to the highest 
position in the land. Too many of us would have 
had our heads turned by it. But Joseph remained 
the same dignified, courteous, kind-hearted gen- 
tleman he had been in the days of his obscurity. 
There was nothing servile in his attitude to Pha- 
raoh, yet there was no trace of conceit. All 
through his interview he preserved that modesty 
which comes from a genuine faith in God. And 
when he entered upon his rule, he showed him- 
self equally free from haughtiness and from self- 






FROM PRISON TO PALACE 139 

seeking. He believed that the Prime Minister was 
truly the " first servant" of the State. So he 
went about his work in all humility, trying to do 
Iris best for Pharaoh and his people, ever looking 
to God for the help he needed. 

"We see him as he moved, 
How modest, kindly, all-accomplish 'd, wise, 
With what sublime repression of himself, 
And in what limits and how tenderly ; 
Not swaying to this faction or to that ; 
Not making his high place the lawless perch 
Of wing 'd ambitions, nor a vantage-ground 
For pleasure; but thro' all this tract of years 
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, 
Before a thousand peering littlenesses, 
In that fierce light which beats upon a throne, 
And blackens every blot.'' 

Tennyson. 



XXXVIII 
THE MONEY IN THE SACKS 

THE seven years of plenty were full of happi- 
ness for Joseph. He was happy in his work, 
happy in his relations with Pharaoh, happy in his 
love for Asenath and their two sons Manasseh 
and Ephraim. Then came the seven anxious 
years of famine. All these years Joseph toiled 
heroically to save his people, and to build up a 
strong, just government in the land. And in the 
course of his duties he found himself once more 
in the bosom of his own family. 

The famine had reached to Palestine, and Jacob 
and his sons saw their food melting away before 
their eyes. Then Jacob heard that there was 
corn in Egypt. So he said to his sons, "Why 
stand ye looking one upon another? Behold! I 
have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you 
down thither, and buy for us thence, that we may 
live, and not die." And Jacob's sons went down 
to buy corn in Egypt. Only Benjamin, the young- 
est, remained at home with his father, who feared 
lest mischief might befall him, as it had befallen 
Joseph. 

It must have been with a twinge of conscience 
that the ten men entered Egypt, the land to which 
they had sold their brother as a slave. But that 

140 



THE MONEY IN THE SACKS 141 

was twenty years ago, and they could hardly ex- 
pect to meet him. At all events, they did not 
recognise in him the princely governor, to whom 
they " bowed themselves down with their faces 
to the earth." But Joseph knew them, and re- 
membered the dreams which he had dreamed of 
them. Thus he learned how 

1 'God gives the wishes of our youth, 
But in His own best way. ' ' 

Joseph's heart warmed at once to his brothers. 
But he was not sure whether they had really re- 
pented of the past. So he "made himself strange 
unto them," and asked them roughly whence they 
came, and what business brought them to Egypt. 
They answered, "We have come from the land of 
Canaan to buy food." But Joseph pretended not 
to believe them, and said, "Ye are spies: to see 
the nakedness of the land ye are come." But 
they protested, and said to him, "Nay, my lord! 
but to buy food are thy servants come. "We are 
all one man's sons; we are true men, thy ser- 
vants are no spies. ' ' Then he asked them whether 
their father was alive, and whether they had any 
more brothers. And they said, "We thy servants 
are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the 
land of Canaan ; and behold ! the youngest is this 
day with our father, and one is not." Joseph was 
now all eagerness to see Benjamin. So he said, 
"Ye shall not go forth hence, except your young- 
est brother come hither. Send one of you, and let 
him fetch your brother, and the rest of you shall 
be bound, that your words may be proved, and it 



14* THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

be seen whether there be truth in you : or else — by 
the life of Pharaoh ! — surely ye are spies. " And he 
left them three days under guard to discuss the 
matter. 

On the third day Joseph called his brothers, 
and said to them, J ' This do, and live ! for I am a 
God-fearing man. If ye be true men, let one of 
you be bound, in the guard-house, where ye have 
lain, and the rest of you go, take with you cora 
for the famine in your homes, and bring your 
youngest brother to me ; so shall the truth of your 
words be shown, and ye shall not die." When 
they heard these words, they said one to another, 
"We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in 
that we saw the distress of his soul, when he be- 
sought us, and we would not hear; therefore is 
this distress come upon us." And Eeuben 
brought a fresh sting to their sorrow when he 
added, "Spake I not unto you, saying, 'Do not sin 
against the lad!' and ye would not hear? there- 
fore also, behold! his blood is required of you.". 

The brothers did not know that Joseph under- 
stood their private talk. For as governor of 
Egypt he had been speaking to them through an 
interpreter. But he was so deeply touched that 
he withdrew to another room and wept. Then 
he washed his face, and returned to them. Hav- 
ing learned how Reuben had sought to save him 
from harm, he took Simeon, the next oldest, and 
bound him before his brothers J eyes. Then he 
commanded his servants to fill their sacks with 
corn, and to put each one's money into his sack, 
to give them also provision for the journey, and 
to speed them on their way. "And thus was it 



THE MONEY IN THE SACKS 143 

done unto them." So the ten men laded their 
asses with their corn, and departed thence. 

How like the goodness of our God ! Though we 
have sinned against Him, He pours out His bene- 
fits upon us. He sends the sunshine and the 
showers, He gives us "sweet flowers and fruits," 
ripening harvests, and all the other joys of earth. 
He plants us in happy homes, and surrounds us 
with love and friendship. He sent His own Son 
to die for us. He fills us with the "sevenfold 
graces" of His Spirit. And all without money 
and without price ! 

"Ho, then! everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters, 
And he that hath no bread, eat ! 
Yea, come ! buy corn without money, 
And wine and milk without price! 

Why spend ye money for what is not bread, 
And your earnings for what will not satisfy? 
Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, 
And let your soul delight itself with fatness! 

Incline your ear, and come unto me ; 

Hear, and your soul shall live! 

And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, 

Even the sure mercies I promised to David. ' ' 

Isaiah iv :l-3. 



XXXIX 
IN BOND FOR A BROTHEB 

THE guilty conscience is afraid even of gifts 
So, when the ten sons of Jacob found theii 
money in the mouth of their sacks, their hearts 
failed them for fear, and they turned trembling 
one to another, saying, "What is this that God 
hath now done to ns?" In due time, however 
they returned to their father, and told him all 
that had happened to them in Egypt. And Jacol 
said, "Me have ye bereaved of my children. Jos- 
eph is not, and Simeon is not; and ye would 
take Benjamin away also! All these things are 
against me." Then Reuben spake to his father, 
saying, "Hand him over to my care, and I will 
surely bring him back to thee. Slay my two sons, 
if I bring him not back to thee ! ' ' But Jacob re- 
fused, saying, "My son shall not go down with 
you ; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. 
If mischief befall him on the way by which ye 
have to go, ye shall bring down my grey hairs 
with sorrow to the grave." 

The famine still lay heavy on the land. Soon 
Jacob and his sons had eaten up all the corn 
they brought from Egypt. Then Jacob said to 
them, "Go again, buy us a little food." But 
Judah answered him, saying, "The man did 
solemnly protest to us, saying, 'Ye shall not 
see my face, except your brother be with you.' 
144 



IN BOND FOR A BROTHER 145 

So, if thou wilt send our brother with us, we will 
go down and buy thee food; but if thou wilt not 
send him, we will not go down." And Jacob said, 
"Why dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man 
that ye had another brother? " And the brothers 
answered with one accord, saying, "The man 
asked plainly about ourselves, and about our fam- 
ily, saying, 'Is your father yet alive? Have ye 
still another brother?' And we answered his 
questions honestly. How could we by any means 
know that he would say, 'Bring your brother 
down!' " Judah further offered to be surety for 
the boy. So Jacob said, "Well! if it must be so, 
do this : Take of the choicest fruits of the land, 
and carry them in your sacks as a present to the 
man; and take double money in your hands, to- 
gether with the money that was returned in the 
mouth of your sacks, for perhaps that was an 
oversight ! take also your brother, and arise, go 
again unto the man; and God Almighty give you 
mercy in the eyes of the man, that he may send 
you back your other brother — and Benjamin! 
And if I be bereaved of my children, I am be- 
reaved." 

Then Judah and his brothers took the present, 
and the double money in their hands, and Ben- 
jamin; and they went down to Egypt, and stood 
before Joseph. When he saw Benjamin with 
them, he bade his steward take them to his own 
house, and make ready a banquet, for he would 
dine with them at noon. But they feared he was* 
only seeking an occasion to fall upon them, and 
make them slaves, because of the money that was 
returned to their sacks. So they approached the 



146 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

steward, and told him that they had "brought 
back the money, and that they knew not who put 
it in their sacks. But he said, "Peace be with 
you ! fear not ! Your God, and the God of your 
fathers, gave you the treasure in your sacks. 
Tour money came to me." And he took them to 
Joseph's house, and brought Simeon to them. 
And he gave them water to wash their feet, and 
food for their asses. Then he went to make ready 
the banquet. 

When Joseph came home at noon, they laid out 
their present, and once more "bowed themselves 
down to the earth before him." But this time he 
received them graciously, and asked how they 
were, and how their father was. Then he cast 
his eyes on Benjamin, his own mother's son, and 
said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom 
ye spake to one?" And he blessed him, and said, 
"God be gracious to thee, my son!" At these 
words his feelings overcame him, and he has- 
tened to his own room, and wept there. Then he 
washed his face, and returned, and gave orders to 
serve the dinner. And his servants set places for 
Joseph and his Egyptian attendants, and his 
brothers, each by themselves. For the Egyptians 
would not eat at the same table as the Hebrews. 
Much to their amazement, the brothers were 
seated according to age. And messes were 
brought them from Joseph's own table, Benja- 
min's mess being five times as much as any of the 
others. So they ate and drank, and were merry 
with him. 

When the dinner was over, Joseph instructed 
his steward to fill the men's sacks with food, "aa 



IN BOND FOR A BROTHER 147 

much as they could carry,' ' and again to put every 
man's money in the month of his sack. To test 
their loyalty to Benjamin, he bade him further 
put his own silver cup in the mouth of Benjamin's 
sack. "And he did according to the word that 
Joseph had spoken." Next morning, 'at day- 
break, the men laded their asses, and set out on 
their journey. But when they were only a little 
way from the city, Joseph bade his steward fol- 
low them, and charge them with having stolen the 
cup. The men indignantly denied the charge. 
"Behold! the money which we found in our 
sacks' mouth we brought again unto thee out of 
the land of Canaan : how then should we steal out 
of thy lord's house silver or gold?" If he still 
suspected them, let him look through their sacks ! 
And let the man in whose sack the cup should be 
found be put to death, while the rest of them were 
ready to be made slaves. The steward accepted 
the challenge, though he modified the terms. "Let 
it be then according to your words! He with 
whom the cup shall be found shall be my slave; 
but the rest of you shall be blameless." Then 
they hastily brought down their sacks to the 
ground, and opened them. And the steward 
searched them, beginning with the eldest, and 
leaving off with the youngest. "And the cup 
was found in Benjamin's sack." 

Had the brothers been the men they formerly 
were, they would have left Benjamin to his fate. 
They would even have been glad to get rid of one 
who was now their father's favourite. But their 
hearts were changed, and they resolved as one 
man to stand by Benjamin to the end. So "they 



148 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, 
and returned to the city." When they came to 
Joseph's house, "they fell before him on the 
ground. " Joseph asked them sharply, "What 
sort of deed is this that ye have done? And did 
ye not know that a man like me can surely divine 
hidden things ! ' ' They answered, "What shall we 
say unto my lord! And how can we clear our- 
selves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy 
servants. Behold! we are my lord's bondmen, 
both we, and he in whose hand the cup hath been 
found." But Joseph said, "God forbid that I 
should do so! The man in whose hand the cup 
hath been found, he shall be my bondman; but 
as for you, get you up in peace to your father." 

Then Judah drew near, and said to Joseph: 
c ' my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a 
word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger 
burn against thy servant! for thou art even as 
Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, 
' Have ye a father, or a brother?' And we said 
unto my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and 
a child of his old age, a little one ; and his brother 
is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and 
his father loveth him. ' And thou saidst unto thy 
servants, 'Bring him down unto me; that I may 
set mine eyes upon him/ And we said unto my 
lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father; for if he 
should leave his father, his father would die.' 
And thou saidst unto thy servants, 'Except your 
youngest brother come down with you, ye shall 
see my face no more.' 

"And it came to pass, when we came up unto 
thy servant my father, we told him the words of 



IN BOND FOR A BROTHER 149 

my lord. And our father said, 'Go again, buy us 
a little food!' And we said, 'We cannot go down 
only if our youngest brother be with us, will we 
go down: for we may not see the man's face, ex- 
cept our youngest brother be with us.' And thy 
servant my father said unto us, 'Ye know that my 
wife bare me two sons: and the one went out 
from me, and I said, ' Surely he is torn in pieces ' ; 
and I have not seen him since ; and if you take this 
one also from me, and mischief befall him, ye 
shall bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the 
grave.' Now, therefore, if I go home to thy ser- 
vant my father, and the lad be not with us — his 
soul being knit with the lad's soul — when he seeth 
that the lad is not with us, he will die: and thy 
servants shall bring down the grey hairs of thy 
servant our father with sorrow to the grave. 
Moreover, thy servant became surety for the lad 
unto my father, saying, 'If I bring him not back 
to thee, then shall I bear the blame to my father 
for ever. ' Now, therefore, let thy servant, I pray 
thee, remain here instead of the lad as a bondman 
to my lord ; and let the lad go up with his brethren ! 
For how can I go up to my father — and the lad be 
not with me — and look on the evil that shall fall 
on my father?" 

Truly, a noble plea! One that carries us over 
the years to the pleader's great Son, "the Lion of 
the tribe of Judah," who put Himself in bond for 
His brethren, and "ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them." It is hard to realise that this is 
the same Judah who gave the advice to sell Joseph 
to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver! 
But 



150 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

"I hold it truth, with him who sings 
To one clear harp in divers tones, 
That men may rise on stepping-stones 
Of their dead selves to higher things." 

Tennyson. 



XL 
A EOYAL FOBGIVENESS 

JOSEPH was deeply moved as he listened to 
Judah's words. At last he could no longer 
restrain himself. So he gave orders that all his 
attendants should leave the room. Then he broke 
into loud weeping. And, as he wept, he cried out, 
"I am Joseph! Is my father yet alive?" 

His brothers were so confused by the dis- 
closure that they could not utter a word. There- 
fore he bade them come near to him, and said, "I 
am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 
But now be not grieved, nor angry with your- 
selves, that you sold me hither ; for God sent me 
before you to save life. For these two years hath 
the famine been in the midst of the land; and 
there are still five years in which there shall be 
neither ploughing nor harvest. So God did send 
me before you to save you with a great salvation. 
And He hath made me father to Pharaoh, and 
lord of all his house, and ruler t>ver all the land of 
Egypt. Therefore, haste ye, *nd go up to my 
father, and say to him, 'Thus sar i thy son Joseph, 
God hath made me lord of all Egypt : come down 
to me, tarry not : and thou shalt live near me, and 
I will nourish thee — for there are yet five years of 
famine — lest thou come to poverty, thou, and thy 
household, and all that thou hast.' " 
151 



153 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

The brothers were still so confused that they 
could scarcely believe what they heard. So 
Joseph went on to say, " Behold! your eyes do see, 
and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it 
is my mouth that speaketh to you. Therefore ye 
shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and 
of all else that ye have seen. And ye shall make 
haste to bring down my father hither. " Then he 
fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept;, 
and Benjamin wept upon his neck. After that he 
kissed all his brothers in turn, and wept upon 
them. Then they talked to one another of all that 
was in their heart. 

It was a royal forgiveness, full and free, as 
God's forgiveness is. So ought we also to for- 
give, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. 

1 ' In the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy." 

Shakespeare. 



XLI 
A UNITED HOME 

THE news that Joseph's brothers were with 
him soon spread through all the palace, and 
Pharaoh and his servants came to share in their 
joy. Pharaoh courteously renewed the invitation 
that Joseph had given them, and bade them take 
wagons from Egypt to bring up their father, their 
wives, and their little ones. Joseph then loaded 
them with gifts of fine clothes, money and food, 
sent them home to their father, and said to them, 
"See that ye don't excite yourselves on the 
way." 

When they reached home they told their father 
that Joseph was yet alive, and that he was ruler 
over all the land of Egypt. But the news seemed 
too good to be true, and he refused to believe till 
he saw the wagons at the door. Then his spirit 
revived, and he said: "It is enough! Joseph my 
son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I 
die." 

So Jacob set out with all that he had, and came 
first to Beersheba, the home of his father Isaac. 
There he offered sacrifices to the God of Isaac; 
and God appeared to him in a dream by night, and 
cheered him with promises of good. Prom Beer- 
sheba he went on to Egypt, sending Judah be- 
fore him to announce his arrival to Joseph. When 
153 



154 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

Joseph heard of his coming, he yoked his chariot, 
and went to meet him in Goshen, on the north-east 
border of Egypt. And when he came in sight of 
him, he ran and fell on his neck, and wept there 
a long while. And Jacob said to him, "Now let 
me die, since I have seen thy face, and found that 
thou art yet alive ! ' ' 

Joseph wished his father and brothers to be 
settled in Goshen, where the pastures were rich 
and good. So he advised them, when they met 
Pharaoh, to tell him that they were keepers of 
cattle. Then he went back to Pharaoh, taking 
with him five of his brothers. Pharaoh asked 
them about their occupation, and they told him 
they were herdsmen. They further begged that 
he would allow them to dwell in Goshen. And 
Pharaoh requested Joseph to choose the very best 
portion of land in Goshen for them to dwell in. 
And he added, "If thou findest some able men 
among them, make them overseers of my own 
herds.' ' 

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob, and 
presented him to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh greeted 
him, and asked him his age. The old man an- 
swered, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage 
are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil 
have been the days of the years of my life ; and 
they have not reached the days of the years of 
my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. ' ' And 
he blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his 
presence. 

After that Joseph gave his father and brothers 
a tract of land in the district of Barneses, the best 
portion of Goshen. And Joseph supported them 



A UNITED HOME 15B 

and their households with food. And they lived 
happily together for seventeen years. 

It is now seldom that scattered families are 
united as Jacob's was. We may meet, perhaps, 
at a wedding, or on a holiday. Yet it is only for a 
short time. And even so there is usually at least 
one vacant chair. But, thank God! there is a 
Home where the blanks are filling up, and the 
broken ties made fast. 

"In the vale of youth and flowers 

We shall meet each dear-loved face, 
And all partings shall be ended 
In a long and true embrace. " 

A. C. Fbyos. 



XLII 
A HAPPY ENDING 

THE time drew near when Jacob must die. 
So lie called his son Joseph, and made him 
swear an oath thatch s would bury him beside his 
fathers in the cave of Machpelah. And Joseph 
swore the oath. Soon afterwards Jacob fell very- 
sick, and Joseph took his two sons, Manasseh and 
Ephraim, and went to see him. "When Jacob heard 
that Joseph had come, he pulled himself together, 
sat upon his bed, and talked to him of past bless- 
ings and sorrows, especially of the grief that 
Eachel's death had caused him. Then he lifted 
up his eyes., now dim with age, and faintly per- 
ceived the two figures by Joseph's side. He 
asked who these were. And Joseph answered 
him, "They are my sons, whom God hath given 
me here." Then Jacob said, " Bring them to me, 
I pray thee, that I may bless them ! ' ' And Joseph 
brought them near to him. And Jacob said to 
Joseph, "I had not hoped to see thy face: and 
behold! God hath let me see thy seed also." 

Now Joseph had placed Manasseh, the elder 
son, on his left hand toward Jacob's right, and 
Ephraim, the younger, on his right hand toward 
Jacob's left. But the dying man crossed his 
hands, and laid the right one on Ephraim 's head, 
and the left on Manasseh 's. And he blessed them, 

156 



A HAPPY ENDING 157 

and said, "The God before whom my fathers 
Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God that hath 
shepherded me all my life long unto this day, the 
Angel that hath redeemed me from all evil, bless 
the lads ! And let them inherit my name, and the 
name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac! And 
let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the 
earth ! ' ' 

Joseph was displeased that his father had laid 
his right hand on Ephraim ; and he held it up, to 
lay it on Manasseh, saying, "Not so, my father! 
for this is the first born ; put thy right hand on his 
head!" But his father refused, saying, "I know, 
my son, I know! He also shall become a people, 
he also shall be great; howbeit his younger 
brother shall be greater than he, and his seed 
shall become a multitude of nations." And he 
blessed them further, saying, "By your names 
shall the people of Israel bless one another, say- 
ing, i God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh ! ' " 

Then Jacob called his other sons together, and 
blessed them, and charged them to join with 
Joseph in burying him beside his fathers. "And 
when Jacob had made an end of charging his 
sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, and died. ' ' 
And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept 
over him, and kissed him. Then he gave orders 
to the embalmers to embalm him. And he and the 
Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. 

When the time of mourning was over, he asked 
permission of Pharaoh to go up to Palestine and 
bury his father there. And Pharaoh granted him 
permission. So he went up to Palestine, he and 
his brothers, with the servants in Pharaoh's house 



158 THE ENCHANTED GARDEN 

and all the chief men of Egypt, "a very great 
company/ ' attended by chariots and horsemen. 
And they mourned for Jacob seven days on the 
threshing-floor of Atad, just over the border of 
Palestine. And they buried him in the cave of 
Machpelah, and returned to Egypt. 

Now that Jacob was dead, the ten brothers 
feared lest Joseph might pay them back for the 
evil they had done him. So they sent a message 
to him, saying, "Thy father commanded us be- 
fore he died, saying, ■ Thus shall ye say to Joseph : 
I pray thee, forgive the great wrong, and the sin, 
which thy brothers did to thee'; so now, we pray 
thee forgive the wrong-doing of the servants of 
thy father's God." They went in person also, 
and fell down before his face, and said, "Behold! 
we are thy servants." Joseph was grieved that 
they doubted his good will. So he wept, and said 
to them, "Fear not! for am I in the place of 
God? As for you, no doubt ye meant evil against 
me ; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass 
what ye see this day, the saving of the lives of 
much people. Now, therefore, fear not ! for I will 
nourish both yourselves and your little ones." 
And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them. 

Joseph and his brothers lived many more years 
in Egypt, and saw children and grandchildren to 
the third generation. At last, when Joseph was 
an hundred and ten years old, the time came for 
him also to die. So he called together his 
brothers, and said to them, "I am now about to 
die ; but God will surely visit you, and bring you 
up out of this land unto the land which He sware 
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." And he 



A HAPPY ENDING 159 

made them take an oath that, when God did bring 
them to Palestine, they would carry his bones 
with them, and lay them to rest on holy ground. 
Then he passed away, like the summer sun, in 
beauty and peace. 

" Sunset and evening star, 

And one clear call for me ! 
And may there be no moaning of the bar, 

When I put out to sea; 
But such a tide as moving seems asleep, 

Too full for sound and foam, 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep 

Turns again home. 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark! 
And may there be no sadness of farewell, 

When I embark; 
For tho' from out the bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face, 

When I have crost the bar." 

Tennyson. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: May 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 



